[KhaamaPress] The British government has reportedly rejected requests to accept hundreds of Afghan refugees stranded in Pakistain after their flights to the U.S. were suspended by Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... . According to the Daily Telegraph, these refugees are facing an uncertain future.
Trump’s order has resulted in the cancellation of flights for over 1,600 Afghan refugees who had already been approved for entry into the United States.
These refugees have appealed to the UK to open its doors to them, as they face harassment and persecution in Pakistain due to tensions between Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban ...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan... . They express fear for their safety and seek a fresh start in the UK.
Masoud, a former U.S. military collaborator from Kunduz, told the Daily Telegraph that he was scheduled to fly to the U.S. this month. Now residing in Rawalpindi, Pakistain, he stated, "We are trapped. I cannot return to Afghanistan because the Taliban will kill me, and now the U.S. has shut its doors. My only hope is Britannia, and I pray for a chance to start over."
British officials are expected to reject their resettlement applications, further exacerbating the plight of these refugees. Meysam Saei, a 30-year-old former U.S. military collaborator in Kabul, expressed frustration over being stranded despite holding a special immigration visa. He sees Britannia as their last hope and urges the UK government not to abandon them after their sacrifices.
In an interview with CBS, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance defended Donald Trump’s suspension of the Afghan refugee program, citing inadequate security vetting. He highlighted concerns over potential threats, referencing an Afghan refugee accused of planning a terrorist attack in Oklahoma.
Vance stressed the need for stricter screening, arguing that thousands of refugees cannot enter the U.S. without thorough checks. He dismissed claims that vetting was sufficient, warning that lapses in the process could endanger American communities and must be addressed urgently.
Trump’s executive order, issued on his first day of his second term, has temporarily halted the resettlement of Afghan refugees in Pakistain and other countries. The U.S. State and Homeland Security Departments are expected to reassess the acceptance process to address security gaps, a concern frequently raised by Republican politicians.
Trump’s campaign has heavily focused on curbing refugee inflows, often using harsh rhetoric and portraying them as a threat to U.S. security. This policy shift has left thousands of vulnerable Afghans in a precarious situation, with few options remaining for their safe resettlement.
#1
It’s probably worth reviewing those folks to see if they were terps or their family members. Afghans who helped us are legitimate refugees who would not be safe in Pakistan or Iran.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/01/2025 10:44
Comments ||
Top||
[ShabelleMedia] On Friday, the Somali National Army (SNA), in close collaboration with local communities, continued its strategic military operations targeting al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... bases in central Somalia. The joint operation is focused on the area between Bulobarde District and Halgan village, key regions that have seen heightened bully boy activity in recent months.
Speaking exclusively to Somali National Television (SNTV), Army officials confirmed that the operation has made significant strides, with several key milestones achieved in weakening the presence of forces of Evil in the region. The SNA has successfully targeted and dismantled several al-Shabaab strongholds, with reports indicating heavy losses among the bully boys.
The operation, described as a concerted effort to restore peace and security in the region, has gained the support of local communities working alongside the army to gather intelligence and assist with logistics. Residents have been instrumental in providing critical information, which has allowed the SNA to carry out precise strikes and minimize civilian casualties.
"The collaboration with the local communities has been invaluable," said one of the senior officers involved in the operation. "Their support has made a real difference in the effectiveness of our operations. We are committed to ensuring that this region remains secure and free from the threat of terrorism."
The 4th Wave feminists screeched about The Handmaid’s Tale coming to America at Donald Trump’s hands, but like the descending boot of fascism it landed on the women of Afghanistan instead.
[KhaamaPress] A hospital in Kabul has seen a drastic reduction in female medical staff, with only 124 remaining out of 280.
A French newspaper, Le Monde, reported that 156 female medical staff members have left the French Hospital in Kabul, which previously employed 280. Currently, only 124 remain. The newspaper described the loss of female staff at medical centers as a "nightmare."
According to the French newspaper, the restrictions imposed on female medical personnel by the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... have placed half of Afghanistan’s population at risk. It noted that of the 9 patient resuscitation specialists at the hospital, 8 have abandoned their jobs. Only one left to go.
Éric Cheysson, the head of the French Hospital in Kabul, stated that the Taliban’s anti-women policies are depleting Afghanistan’s healthcare workforce. He emphasized that healthcare centers are closing one by one due to these restrictions. It's called Hajji progress..
The head of the French Hospital further mentioned that the number of patients visiting the hospital is steadily increasing as international organizations reduce their operations in Afghanistan. He referred to the influx of patients as a "tsunami." What you subsidize, you get more of.
Cheysson also acknowledged that the International Red Thingy and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) are scaling down their healthcare services in Afghanistan, with many international organizations leaving the country.
Le Monde also reported that Taliban morality police are now monitoring the corridors and other sections of the hospital. They regularly oversee the separation of male and female employees and patients. The Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health forced the hospital’s management to remove a painting depicting a mother holding her child from the walls.
The French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC) was established in Kabul in 2006 through a partnership between the French and former Afghanistan governments. It was created to provide specialized healthcare services for mothers and children in Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, they have imposed strict restrictions on women’s access to education, healthcare, and employment. These policies have not only deprived women of their rights but have also caused a significant decline in the country’s medical workforce, especially in critical fields like healthcare. Who knew ?
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, female medical workers have faced growing challenges, with many leaving their jobs due to restrictions and harassment. The closure of women’s medical training centers has further exacerbated the situation, with experts warning that Afghanistan could face a severe shortage of female healthcare professionals in the coming years.
In addition to restricting education for women and girls beyond the 6th grade, the Taliban’s policies have effectively shut down vital avenues for female medical professionals, leaving the healthcare system struggling. International organizations have condemned these actions, stressing that such moves will undermine the healthcare infrastructure in Afghanistan, further affecting the well-being of its citizens, especially women and kiddies.
[Garowe] The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has launched an aggressive campaign to deport undocumented immigrants colonists, with Somalia taking the lead among African countries in the numbers targeted for removal. This intensified action underlines the Trump administration's commitment to a stringent immigration policy.
Somalia now tops the list for African countries with 4,090 of its citizens marked for deportation, highlighting the scale of enforcement targeting this community. Nigeria follows with 3,690 individuals, and Ghana with 3,228. The list also includes smaller numbers from other African nations: Namibia with 19, Botswana with 12, South Africa with 379, Eswatini with 6, Liberia with 1,563, Mozambique with 14, Angola with 662, Zambia with 174, Malawi with 58, Zim-bob-we with 545, and Kenya with 1,282.
Good to know.
The surge in deportations comes in the wake of President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... 's inauguration, during which he has pushed forward an aggressive immigration agenda. Among the executive orders signed by Trump is one aimed at revising the policy of birthright citizenship, specifically targeting children born to undocumented immigrants colonists in the U.S.
This policy shift has sparked widespread debate and concern among immigration rights advocates, who argue that the measures could lead to family separations and significant human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... issues. Critics also point out that the focus on Somalia could be linked to broader security concerns, given the country's history of political instability and terrorism threats, although no direct link to these factors has been officially stated by ICE or the administration.
The administration's actions reflect a hardline stance on immigration. Officials cite public safety and the enforcement of existing laws as primary motivations. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... this approach has led to protests and legal challenges from various groups concerned about its implications for human rights and international relations.
As ICE continues its operations, the international community watches closely. Some countries are preparing to receive their citizens back, while others express concerns over the humanitarian aspects of such large-scale deportations. The situation remains fluid, with the potential for further legal and diplomatic developments as the policy unfolds.
[ShabelleMedia] In an interview with Shabelle, Abdifatah Abdinuur, the Minister of State for the Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... Presidency, stated that Puntland no longer hopes for cooperation or rapprochement with the Somali Federal Government.
Abdinuur emphasized that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has monopolized matters concerning the fate of the Somali people, sidelining the power-sharing system and the Federal principles that once guided the country’s governance.
He criticized the President for diminishing the federal framework, which had been an essential part of Somalia’s structure.
Furthermore, Abdinuur warned that if the current trajectory of the government continues, Mogadishu could once again become a militarized stronghold, echoing concerns about the President’s consolidation of power and the handling of the national constitution.
On another note, the Minister discussed ongoing operations in Puntland aimed at tracking down foreign nationals.
He revealed that these operations stem from intelligence that foreign individuals, linked to ISIS, were found to be involved in activities undermining security. Puntland’s forces are currently engaged in festivities in the CalMiskaad mountains against these groups.
[ShabelleMedia] Intense fighting has erupted in Somalia’s Hiran region, with Somali government forces, backed by local militias and Djiboutian peacekeeping troops (Hiil Walaal), clashing with al-Shabaab ... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa... hard boys, military sources said on Friday.
The conflict is centered between the towns of Halgan and Buula-Burde, with significant engagements reported around the village of Jiciboow. Airstrikes have also been part of the military operations in the region, aimed at dislodging the Islamist hard boys.
The offensive in Hiran, spearheaded by Somali military commander General Ali Jeyte and other regional and federal leaders, is part of a broader initiative to dismantle al-Shabaab’s control over parts of central and southern Somalia.
[Rudaw] The Iraqi National Security Service (INSS) on Friday announced the arrests of five people accused of involvement in the liquidation of Shiite holy man Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and oppressing Kurds during the reign of the Baath regime decades ago.
"Through a series of precise intelligence operations, the National Security Agency managed to arrest five of the most notorious criminals from the followers of the former regime who had recorded pages of terror and mass killing," INSS spokesperson Arshad al-Hakim said during a presser.
He said the arrests of the "criminal gang" were "carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Dissolved Ba'ath Party Prohibition Law and with high-level coordination with all relevant authorities and the judicial institution."
One of the suspects, Sadoun Sabri Jamil, was a senior commander under the Baath regime. The accusations against him include the killing of Sadr and his sister "with his personal weapon" and mass executions of members of opposition parties.
Haitham Abdul Aziz Faiq, another of the men arrested, was also a top commander. He is accused of supervising the killings of Sadr and his sister as well as members of the Dawa Party.
Sadr is the father-in-law of the influential Shiite holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He had his hereditary rival al-Khoei assassinated shortly after the holy rival's appearance out of exile in 2003. Formerly an Iranian catspaw, lately he gagged over some of their more outlandish antics, then went back to catspawry when the check cleared... . He was a popular holy man and critic of the Baathist regime. He was executed in 1980.
The third suspect is Khairallah Hammadi Abd, a former major general. He was allegedly involved in the suppression of Fayli Kurds in Baghdad in 1974 and forcibly displacing regime opponents.
Shaker Yahya is accused of taking part in the executions of Kurdish detainees in Baghdad in 1984 and of preventing people from holding ceremonies to mourn Sadr.
The final suspect was identified as Nimat Mohammed Suhail. His crimes included "leading arrest and torture campaigns targeting more than 40 university students in Sulaimani and other universities, involvement in the arrest of three opponents in Sulaimani," according to the INSS spokesperson.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... i commended the security forces on the operation.
"The National Security Service members, along with the other state security teams, continue to demonstrate their unwavering dedication to upholding the rule of law and ensuring that justice prevails, leaving no room for impunity," he said in a statement.
"With the recent achievement of justice through the apprehension of key figures from the criminal repressive apparatus of the Saddam-era Ba’athist regime - those responsible for the killing of the martyr Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, may he rest in peace, his sister, and a group of deaders from Sayyed ...Arabic term meaning your/his lordship. Groveling in His Exalted Presence is encouraged... al-Hakim family, along with thousands of innocent Iraqis whose lives were lost in the darkness of prisons - we reaffirm our steadfast commitment to the relentless pursuit of criminals, no matter how long they evade justice," he added.
[Rudaw] Iraqi security forces said on Friday that they carried out two Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s against a group of four suspected Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) members on the border between the northern provinces of Kirkuk and Salahaddin, killing all of them.
The army "managed to monitor a group of four terrorist elements in one of the guesthouses in the Zarka sector within the border area between Salah al-Din and Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... " the Security Media Cell said.
"F-16 aircraft carried out two airstrikes targeting this guesthouse, resulting in the killing of the ISIS terrorist gang members inside after completely destroying it," it added.
Details of the operation will be published at a later date, the cell noted.
[Rudaw] Protests against strikes on Tishreen Dam continue amid growing international criticism of Syrian militias carrying out the attacks, most recently from Human Rights Watch, which on Thursday said a recent dronezap on an ambulance was "an apparent war crime."
"A dronezap by the Turkiye-Syrian National Army (SNA) coalition that hit a Kurdish Red Islamic Thingy ambulance on January 18, 2025, in northern Syria is an apparent war crime," said Human Rights Watch.
The ambulance was transporting an injured protester from Tishreen Dam when it was hit, the Kurdish Red Islamic Thingy wrote in a statement following the attack. The driver, a nurse, and the injured person were all able to escape.
"According to international law, targeting the injured, paramedics, ambulances, and civilians constitutes a flagrant war crime. This is precisely what the Ottoman Turkish state and its allied factions have been committing openly before the world since the beginning of the campaign targeting
Manbij and its eastern countryside," said the Kurdish Red Islamic Thingy.
Tishreen Dam, located on the Euphrates River near the northern Syria city of Manbij, has for weeks come under attacks by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... and the SNA militia groups it supports. Strong resistance from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has so far prevented their advance.
"On Thursday, Ottoman Turkish warplanes launched several Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s near the Tishreen Dam, southeast of Manbij, while also subjecting the area to heavy artillery bombardment," the SDF wrote in a Friday statement about recent attacks around the dam.
A takeover of the dam could help Ankara and the SNA easily advance to other parts of the Kurdish-held northeast Syria (Rojava).
Rojava authorities have warned that constant attacks on the dam could lead to the collapse of the structure, causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
Groups of civilians have traveled to the dam to stage protests. Fifty-one civilians have been killed, according to conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Yet the protests continue with hundreds of people traveling to the dam on Friday morning, reported ANHA news agency.
Human Rights Watch also condemned the attacks on the civilian protests.
"Drone footage published by an SNA-affiliated Telegram channel on January 22, verified by Human Rights Watch, shows two small air-dropped munitions explode in a crowd of men and women at Tishreen Dam, where they were protesting and doing a traditional Kurdish dance in a line. A caption says: ’The armed drone sends congratulations and blessings to the SDF celebrations at Tishreen Dam,’" the watchdog stated, adding that Turkey is obligated to "rein in" the SNA.
Earlier this month, the International Committee of the Red Thingy, said dams have special protection under international humanitarian law and should not be attacked.
Ankara has labeled the armed Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) in northeast Syria as Lions of Islam and a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and considers them a threat to Turkey’s security.
"Our heroic Ottoman Turkish Armed Forces neutralized 6 PKK Lions of Islam it identified in the Gara region of northern Iraq and 7 PKK/YPG Lions of Islam it identified in the Peace Spring and Euphrates Shield regions of northern Syria," the Ottoman Turkish defense ministry said on Friday.
[IsraelTimes] Case emerged amid allegations of widespread anti-Israel bias that have cast doubt on the open-source encyclopedia’s credibility and dovetailed with claims it has a liberal skew
[IsraelTiems] The Trump administration is looking at lifting a hold on the delivery of 24,000 assault rifles to Israel that was issued by former US secretary of State Antony Blinken, the New York Times reports, citing an American official.
The newspaper says the State Deportment didn’t reply to a request on whether the US will lift the hold, which Blinken put in place over concerns that then-national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir was using them to arm settlers in the West Bank.
[IsraelTimes] The “Syrian Resistance,” an organization affiliated with the former regime in Syria, claims responsibility for firing at Israel Defense Forces troops in the buffer zone last night, a Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese outlet reports.
The group announces it “has begun its operations against the Israeli enemy alongside operations against al-Julani’s terrorist gangs,” using the nom de guerre of new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
According to the Al-Akhbar outlet, the group also says “the Syrian Resistance will not allow Israel to occupy our land. We will ambush it and al-Julani’s gangs with precise ambushes and surprise attacks.”
The IDF said last night that soldiers had returned fire at the source of the shooting, and that there were no Israeli injuries.
It marked the first such incident since Israeli forces deployed to the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, following the fall of the Assad regime last month.
[YouTube] A 30-year Army veteran likens the devastation of the Palisades Fire to that of a warzone. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025.
[Red State] President Trump did issue a Black History Month proclamation with a not-so-subtle sign that all black American patriots—not just the ones favored by the left—should be and would be honored.
Throughout our history, black Americans have been among our country’s most consequential leaders, shaping the cultural and political destiny of our Nation in profound ways. American heroes such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Thomas Sowell, Justice Clarence Thomas, and countless others represent what is best in America and her citizens. Their achievements, which have monumentally advanced the tradition of equality under the law in our great country, continue to serve as an inspiration for all Americans. We will also never forget the achievements of American greats like Tiger Woods, who have pushed the boundaries of excellence in their respective fields, paving the way for others to follow.
This National Black History Month, as America prepares to enter a historic Golden Age, I want to extend my tremendous gratitude to black Americans for all they have done to bring us to this moment, and for the many future contributions they will make as we advance into a future of limitless possibility under my Administration.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/01/2025
09:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11154 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A few of 'the usual suspects', but also a few 'first-timers' that will trigger the lefties.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/01/2025 9:10
Comments ||
Top||
#2
All accomplished people and worthy of emulation, but if you wander off the reservation, are you still *really* black?
[Breitbart] Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday issued guidance to the entire Department of Defense to end the practice of celebrating months tied to racial or gender identities using official resources.
He said in his guidance: "Our unity and purpose are instrumental to meeting the Department’s warfighting mission. Efforts to divide the force — to put one group ahead of another — erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution."
He added:
Going forward, DoD Components and Military Departments will not use official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months, including National African American/Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month. Service members and civilians remain permitted to attend these events in an unofficial capacity outside of duty hours.
He said that military installations, units, and offices are still encouraged to "celebrate the valor and success of military heroes of all races, genders, and backgrounds as we restore our warrior culture and ethos."
[Epoch Times] Federal government employees are embracing resignation offers made by the Trump administration, a senior White House official said on Jan. 31.
"A large number of federal workers have accepted the buyout offer," Stephen Miller told reporters. "And I think the point here to really underscore is that federal workers who are not happy in their jobs, who don’t want to show up at work, who do not want to be in the office, who are not passionate about what they’re doing, are obviously not the kind of federal worker you want responsible for having enormous authority over the lives of the American people."
Benefits offered to those resigning by Feb. 6 include full pay and benefits even if workload is greatly diminished. Individuals can pursue second jobs immediately, and vacation and personal leave days will continue to accrue and be paid out on the last paycheck, according to a statement from the OPM.
Employees who accept the offer sign resignation letters effective Sept. 30, 2025. Agency heads are directed to reassign or eliminate the duties of those who choose to resign.
Many who opt to stay in their position are ordered to return to in-office work environments for five days a week. No guarantees are made for future job stability.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/01/2025
07:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11153 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
No guarantees are made for future job stability.
Posted by: Throlush Dark Lord of the Nebraskans2736 ||
02/01/2025 14:27
Comments ||
Top||
#5
@#3 - I'd like to know also. Let's say 2.5 million were eligible. "Large" to me would be 10% of that. My SWAG is between 5 and 10%.
Very attractive offer for someone like me who plans to retire in 8 months. Alas - I'm excluded (I think...). I also agree w/@#4 - there's gonna be a bunch that wish they took the deal.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
02/01/2025 14:50
Comments ||
Top||
#6
but someone should define 'large number'
Big O notation is a mathematical notation that describes the limiting behavior of a function when the argument tends towards a particular value or infinity.
#7
In the private sector, we used to say after a large job elimination "the living will envy the dead." But then again, we were expected to deliver results regardless of employee numbers.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
02/01/2025 21:14
Comments ||
Top||
[Brownstone] Recent studies noticed death by suicide and the risk for fatal drug overdose among women in healthcare is much higher as compared with the general population (1-10). It is not only female physicians, but the risk is even higher for nurses and other healthcare workers, especially for those with the lowest-paid jobs and heaviest mental and physical workload who have been most stretched to the limits (7). Worldwide over the last several years thousands of healthcare workers have died by suicide or fatal overdose leaving family, friends, and the workplace in shock and grief.
Suicide and self-harm have substantial social and economic costs (12). One death by suicide was calculated in the UK to cost the economy an average of 1.46 million pounds (13). In 2022 more than 360 nurses attempted suicide, and 72 medical professionals took their own lives in 2020 in the UK as data from the Office of National Statistics indicate. Analysis of mortality data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2007 to 2018 identified 2,374 suicides among nurses, 857 among doctors, and 156,141 in the general population. However, the number of death by suicide or fatal overdose is grossly underreported. The WHO reports that over 50% of suicides happen under the age of 50 years (14). To address this avoidable burden, a better understanding of effective and non-effective strategies is paramount.
Even before the Covid pandemic started women in healthcare reported substantial workplace stressors (9-11, 15-16). The past four years have put additional strain on women’s health. This is especially true for those women working as front-liners and first responders in highly demanding stressful situations. Increased complexity of care, understaffing, long working hours, additional bureaucratic tasks, moral injury, diminished autonomy, lack of decision-making ability, and low-paid jobs take a burden on their health.
Moreover, women routinely face tougher challenges at work and at home such as institutionalized barriers to career advancement as well as additional pressure for domestic labor by frequently being a caregiver for children and/or parents (9). In all parts of the world healthcare workers are at high risk for violence with 8-38% suffering some sort of violence form in their careers. In 2023 for the first time in history, 75,000 healthcare workers in the US went on strike (17).
#1
Personal experience from years working in hospitals is that nursing staff were more likely to suffer from depression, particularly those working 2nd or midnight shift. Lack of social contact and the depressing effect of continuously dealing with the failing human body?
#2
I spent several years with far too much time inside of various hospital wards during cancer treatments for two family members a decade ago. It looks like an occupation filled with trauma, stress and adrenaline. Not sure how anyone survives as a nurse, EMT, fireman or policeman without a good spouse and an active prayer life.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/01/2025 10:41
Comments ||
Top||
#3
I spent several years with far too much time inside of various hospital wards during cancer treatments
Hallways filled with so many shambling/rolling, crying, walking dead the administration put up one-way traffic signs to guide them.
Waiting rooms of couches and plastic buckets for the chemo afflicted to recline and purge.
Hallway benches filled with fatigued passersby unable to make it room to room.
Patient checkins delayed while staff cleared the expired and sanitized their rooms.
Staff dining facilities shared with ambulatory patients, no relief for caregivers.
#4
Not sure how anyone survives as a nurse, EMT, fireman or policeman without a good spouse and an active prayer life.
Fellow I know, grown, wife and kids, was considering Volunteer Fire. Noble, for sure, Minuteman lineage. I didn't crib that scene from the movie Act of Valor when they are about to deploy and the speech about having everything right at home beforehand, I referenced it, as any fissures at home will crack under the stress. Its all fun and games, I said, until "Its the middle of the night after a work day, and you are trying to dig Dad out from under the steering column, Mom is in the passenger seat with a Head & Face wound, and the kids are screaming in the back seat, and the clock is ticking. And you get home at 4am with all of that churning, and you have to be Dad in 2 hours getting ready to take the kids to their school day. You have to be able to bottle that shit so you don't talk to them like you were 3 sleepless hours ago like the teammate needing to get you the tool, over all the generators and chaos, because their school supplies aren't where they are supposed to be."
Along those lines, I have been given a Combat Vet Pass, and found we have the same issue: how do you talk to people to help pour that bottle with people who get out of their minds because their cheeseburger order "didn't come with the right cut of fried potatoes?"
#6
And to go beyond, other dangerous jobs, metal smelting, electrical line running, weather related search and rescue, 'Use It or Lose It' occupations.
I'm going to put this out there:
The best immediate result is going to be acceptance that there are people who go do the shit and need to vent, and the casual BBQ people need to come to terms with them, not the other way around.
[Brownstone] Some years back, in calmer times before the storm, we officers at sea held the wardroom mess in accordance with that classic naval tradition. It was modernized and conducted over secure video, so those of us in the Med studied with those in the Gulf and those in the BAM,1 but it was all the same. Our study was Thucydides.
The Peloponnesian War is too large for a deployment’s worth of weekly studies to cover, so after each session, I filled my evening with further reading. As the Oak Hill2 passed Sicily, I was drawn to the history of the Sicilian Expedition. History is studied to draw lessons for present times. Athens’ lessons are abundant for ours.
In the midst of the 30-year Peloponnesian War, factions of Athens deemed an invasion of Sicily critical to overall victory. Inherent to their argument was the reality that Sicily would be impossibly lucrative if victorious. So it was then, so it is now: potential profit often clouds sound judgment.
The opposition lost and the attack proceeded. It took the entire fleet and all its citizen manpower and it was entirely defeated. During the multi-year effort, the factions that drove it fused into an oligarchy that perpetuated itself and its war until its incompetence and complete defeat undermined its despotism. It still took the Demos physically overthrowing the Oligarchy for democracy to be restored in Athens.3
Athens could rebuild the ships. But it could not rebuild the men. Thirty thousand citizen sailors were lost in the expedition — the heart of Athens’ civilizational power. The demographic catastrophe is considered a cause of Athens’ eventual defeat in the war and its civilizational decline.4
Essentially, Americans were subjected to a counterterror-insurgency strategy implemented against them by the administrative state in response to the virus.
Two decades ago, factions argued that biowarfare threats were so significant that biodefense responsibility needed to be removed from the purview of the uniformed military and placed within NIAID
… the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases…
under NIH and under HHS. There were structural and efficiency reasons to do this but the intangible reason was that the uniformed military officer corps would not stain its honor with biowarfare. It had held the line with the bioweapons convention since Nixon axed the US bioweapons program, so it had to be removed from the picture for the factions to proceed.
This action, called BioShield, fused the pharmaceutical industry with biodefense and fused the public health agencies with the intelligence community. The two entities in America not held accountable by law or practice, the vaccine industry and the intelligence community (IC), were joined into one. Though done to achieve a positive aim, it is obvious in hindsight that this fusion would create unaccountable oligarchy. Its most apparent manifestation is the director of NIAID’s salary, the highest in government and higher than the president’s, with corresponding tangible worldwide political power. This power structure was known previously to insiders5 but only became visible to the public during the Covid response. It also goes without saying that merging medicine with biodefense under the pretext of foreign biothreats is impossibly lucrative. So it was then, so it is now: potential profit often clouds sound judgment.
The biodefense oligarchy spread its tentacles across government and industry. There is pie to be had and it is lucrative. Adversaries make advances in biotechnology so funds must keep coming and riskier and riskier research must be done to supposedly stay ahead of those adversaries, especially if it proves true that the DOD and NIH traded advanced technology to those adversaries so the IC could gain access and spy on their laboratories.6 Now with more advanced technology, the IC must do more spying on those adversaries and NIAID more research. The biodefense oligarchy is a reinforcing feedback loop. It perpetuates its reason to exist.
There does not appear to be a valid evaluation as to whether the biothreat rates such an apparatus in the context of the overarching threat picture the United States faces. It is unclear if the warriors, the combat armsmen, and the unrestricted line officers are involved in the assessment since they ceased to be involved years ago in an act of false piety (to which the origin of the Covid fiasco can be traced). And the director of NIAID will just turn off funding to the universities in the Congressman’s district when the Congressman raises opposition to the arrangement if the universities in his district have not already complained, for the oligarchy’s funds are substantial. The biodefense grantee taps DOD and NIAID for biodefense funds.
That’s two pots. Because of "the threats," they can tap IC funds. Three pots. With the Global War On Terror creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the delegation of defense functions to DHS, including biodefense, there’s a fourth pot. There are actually even more pots, as the DEFUSE proposal shows, to the consternation of federal agents trying to piece the web together.7 There is pie to be had and it is lucrative.
As with the Athenians’ Sicilian Expedition, the biodefense oligarchy became stronger as it accrued failures. The predominant failure is the creation and release of SARS-CoV-2 and the consequent response. Biodefense acolytes called Covid a war and treated it as so, forcing the nation into a war footing. War demands resources and faltering war campaigns demand more resources to keep them afloat. Resourcing demands organization — consolidation — and consolidation equates to more power.
All governments accrue more powers in wartime. Jacob Siegel, a 9/11-generation veteran like me, wrote a fantastic Tablet essay8 on the disinformation complex which addressed the fusion of the biodefense apparatus with the GWOT-Patriot Act apparatus during the Covid event (I have near verbatim unpublished essays that say the same, and my peers and I discuss this repeatedly, so it is equally fascinating that our generation sees this so clearly).
Essentially, Americans were subjected to a counterterror-insurgency strategy implemented against them by the administrative state in response to the virus. This architecture was for war overseas but was implemented against the American people. With too many interests involved, the expanding apparatus could not be stopped, even by the party in power (which is the nature of oligarchy). As occurred overseas, counterinsurgency failed and in failure imposed despotism and broke the social compact of the country. Alas, the biodefense oligarchy only accumulated more power.
[LI] Released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari revealed that Gaza-based terror group Hamas held her captive in facilities run by the UN Palestinian agency (UNRWA). During her 471 days in captivity, she was held hostage by Hamas in various facilities belonging to the UN agency. The 28-year-old hostage, who was shot by terrorists in the hand and leg on October 7, 2023, was denied necessary medical care.
The damning revelations were made during a phone call between Emily Damari’s family and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after her release on Thursday. "In an emotional conversation with the PM this morning, the 28-year-old said she had been kept in facilities belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] and was not given medical attention, despite having been shot in the hand and leg during the violent kidnapping and losing two fingers," the British newspaper Daily Mail reported
The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.
They literally never denied a payment in their entire career.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The Biden administration — in its final weeks — quietly stacked a key health committee in a move that could sabotage Robert F Kennedy Jr's vaccine plans.
The former President approved the appointments of eight pro-vaccine candidates to a critical committee that is influential in setting America's immunization policies.
Sources say the flood of 11th-hour appointments, with terms lasting until 2028, is an attempt to block RFK Jr from rolling out his antivax agenda.
At his senate confirmation hearing this week, RFK Jr repeatedly assured members he would not do anything 'that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking' the polio or measles vaccines.
But sources fear Kennedy — or whoever replaces him, should the Senate reject his bid to be head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — could simply fire the committee members, who all have at-will contracts.
However, he has often argued the risks outweigh the benefits of many childhood shots and this week he refused to rule out that some may cause autism in children.
A former senior Health and Human Services Department official told STAT News the flurry of confirmations to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was ‘very intentional.’
They added: ‘It was our goal to fill every vacancy on every [federal advisory committee] the department has, with particular focus on ones like ACIP where maintenance of our scientific expertise was critical.’
But sources fear Kennedy — or whoever replaces him, should the Senate reject his bid to be head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — could simply fire the committee members, who all have at-will contracts.
Yes. Do that — the gun to the former Biden administration’s knife fight (because it most assuredly was not President Joe Biden who thought up the plan, vicious though the poor man was and no doubt still is. In fact, shut down all those advisory committees until a review concludes which ones are actually necessary for this particular HHS secretary.
#2
How can anyone point a finger at Biden?
Given Joe Biden's extremely well known and documented mental vacancy issue.
Its the Biden Regime stolen election puppet masters that are still trying to manipulate and control the direction of the US Gov. operations. Because, they know their hour glass is running out of sand.
Give the history of such failed political revolutionary groups resorting to extreme measures. What will be their last BIG Hail Mary stunt?
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump are open to using military force like airstrikes and special forces against drug cartels in Mexico.
Trump has long took issue with the criminal rings and he vowed during his campaign 'to wage war on the cartels.'
Just on Monday some suspected cartel members brazenly opened fire on U.S. Border Patrol who were monitoring a drug and human smuggling hot zone at the Texas-Mexico border. The agents returned fire into Mexico, though no on was injured.
For their role in producing deadly drugs bound for the U.S., like fentanyl, the president has said he would take the fight to the cartels to halt the drugs flowing into America.
Speaking with his former Fox News colleagues Friday morning, Hegseth revealed that Trump is instructing him to make available any resources needed to go after the cartels.
Host Brian Kilmeade asked Hegseth: 'If we find that they continue to fire at Border Control and they continue to put fentanyl into our country, as a secretary of defense, are you permitted now to go after them in Mexico or where they are?'
'Brian, I don’t want to get ahead of the president and I won’t,' the secretary started. 'That’s ultimately going to be his decision.'
'But let me be clear,' he said. 'All options will be on the table if we’re dealing with what are designated to be foreign terrorist organizations who are specifically targeting Americans on our border.'
#2
When the Mexican army is allowed to fight the cartels head on they wipe the floor with them, every time. Ideally a lot of this should revolve around us supporting them while they do what they want to do anyhow.
#3
Although the cartels are getting upgunned, the problem is more about corruption than the ability to fight.
A guy badanov knows (heh) used to report regularly on the cartel wars. If memory serves, the Mexican Marines used to do quite well. Supporting their operations and providing services like Predator overwatch and drone zaps would be helpful.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump has announced a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada and a 10 percent import duty on goods from China that will go into effect on Saturday.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made the bombshell announcement that Trump intended to launch a $1.6 trillion war with America's biggest trading partners in an effort to boost domestic manufacturing and raise revenues for the federal government.
'Starting tomorrow, those tariffs will be in place,' Leavitt told reporters. 'These are promises made and promises kept by the president.'
The tariffs threaten to drive up the price of everything from gas to and pickup trucks and guacamole dip and are an aggressive response to the flow of illicit drugs into the United States.
However, Trump believes that the tariffs will in the long term re-shape the economy and put dollars back in people's pockets while also piling pressure onto America's neighbors to help cut down illegal immigration.
China and Mexico are being further targeted over the inflow of fentanyl which she says has killed tens of millions of Americans. Cartels in Mexico produce and smuggle the synthetic opioid with chemicals imported from unscrupulous Chinese merchants.
Canada and Mexico will immediately retaliate with Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, already vowing to pull American booze from the shelves. Canada is the world's No. 2 market for America's distilled spirits behind Europe.
The U.S. deficit in the trade of goods of Mexico has widened from $106 billion in 2019 to $161 billion in 2023 because the country has largely replaced China as the source of cheap furniture, textiles and computer-related imports.
The deficit with Canada has soared from $31 billion in 2019 to $72 billion in 2023, mainly due to America’s huge imports of Canadian energy.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The White House is calling on House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to apologize after the New York Democrat vowed to fight the Trump agenda 'in the streets.'
Jeffries made his remarks during a press conference in New York on Friday morning where the lawmaker and others gathered to blast the new administration's attempts to freeze federal funding earlier this week.
Surrounded by officials from programs that could have been impacted by the freeze of grants and loans, Jeffries claimed New Yorkers and Americans are 'under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda.'
He said that agenda is trying to cut taxes for billionaire donors and wealthy corporations and stick New Yorkers and the working class Americans with the bill.
'That's not acceptable. We're going to fight it legislatively, we are going to fight it in the courts, and we're going to fight it in the streets,' Jeffries said.
But the White House responded by calling his comments a 'sick call for violence' and claimed it 'incited his followers.'
'Will Minority Leader Jeffries apologize for this disgusting threat?' the White House put out in a release.
'Or will he double down on the same calls for violence that have plagued the country for years?' it continued.
To All Liberals, Socialists and Democrats.
The Real Voters have spoken. Any and ALL Wasteful, Unnecessary spending is under review subject cut by duly elected MAGA focused representatives.
Its time to reel in the US Federal Budget to represent collected revenues. Instead of "continuing" to spend $TRILLIONS more than is collected each year.
#5
So can we expect Antifa to start ramping up their activities again?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/01/2025 12:10
Comments ||
Top||
#6
They only ever acted in jurisdictions where they would not be held accountable. If the Feds are not on their side, they will not be active even in Dem cities. They also know that Trump will put them in the domestic terrorist list with little encouragement. Too many Dems and Feds are involved in their activities so ANTIFA will do nothing for the foreseeable future.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/01/2025 12:44
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Sounds like this guy needs to be relieved of duty.
#9
can we expect Antifa to start ramping up their activities again?
I’m sure that’s the plan, Abu Uluque. But the tolerance they require evaporated with this election, so hopefully we’ll quickly see lots of arrests and serious jail sentences — especially for those from elsewhere, whether legal or illegal.
Except for Democrat-controlled cities and states, which will see accelerated population loss, until the Justice Department turns its attention in that direction.
[FoxNews] 13 Democratic state attorneys general rebuffed the curtailing of DEI roles
The new federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced Friday that taxpayers will see just over a $1 billion savings through the elimination of 104 diversity, equity and inclusion-related (DEI) contracts.
As of Wednesday, DOGE had recorded the cancellation of 85 "DEIA" contracts from 25 federal agencies. By Friday afternoon, that number had grown to 104 contracts totaling $1,000,060,792, according to a DOGE news release.
Of note, 21 Department of the Treasury contracts were canceled, saving a total of $25,247,783. In second place was the Department of Health & Human Services, which canceled 15 contracts worth $28,187,448.
While the Office of Personnel Management only had three contracts canceled, the dollar figure was pinned at a whopping $494,956,233, an average of about $165 million per DEI contract.
The other agencies with the most contracts canceled by the Trump administration include Agriculture with 11 and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Homeland Security with seven each.
According to a release Monday from the Department of Veterans Affairs, 60 employees whose roles were solely focused on DEI were placed on administrative leave, and spokesperson Morgan Ackley said the administration is "laser focused on providing the best possible care and benefits to Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors."
"We are proud to have abandoned the divisive DEI policies of the past and pivot back to VA’s core mission," Ackley said.
The rapid-fire DEI contract eliminations come one week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the endeavors, officially described as "ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity."
Some workers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have received a letter from the agency warning them that they may face termination amid the Trump administration's efforts to scale back the government, FOX Business has learned.
The email, which was sent to 1,100 EPA employees on Wednesday according to the email reviewed by FOX Business, notifies workers that they were deemed to be on probationary status or are in a trial period as an employee and could be terminated immediately.
That’s about 7% of the total, if I didn’t misplace the decimal. Presumably this technique can be reapplied to the rest of the executive branch, which is the largest employer of the 3 million or so workers on the federal payroll. How very clever of someone.
It instructs recipients to respond to an EPA email address only if they have one or more years of previous civilian service or are a veteran – though it warns that "confirming that one or more of these categories applies to you is not determinative of your probationary/trial period status. Each employee's status will be determined individually."
"As a probationary/trial employee, the agency has the right to immediately terminate you pursuant to 5 CFR § 315.804," the email explained. "The process for probationary removal is that you receive a notice of termination, and your employment is ended immediately."
The vice president sat down with Fox News where he discussed the creation of so-called DOGE which will is being led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Trump announced DOGE after winning the November election before taking office. He said it would be created to cut down government waste.
'The most important thing it's going to do, I don't even think it's the cost savings,' Vance told Sean Hannity in the interview.
'It's making the bureaucracy responsive to elected president,' the vice president continued.
'If you look at okay, the president issues an executive order saying we're not going to give grants to organizations that do X, Y and Z and the bureaucracy just does not respond, DOGE has identified grants that were going to be made in violation of an executive order and stop them before the money is wired,' Vance claimed.
He argued it 'makes the people's government responsive to the people's president.'
[FloppingAces] Trump’s 5-D Chess: How Mass Firings Are Freezing the Deep State.
President Trump’s federal workforce policy is beginning to look, even to his enemies, like 5-D chess. I’ll explain it in two stories. First, yesterday Newsweek ran a defiant story under the headline, “Former USDA inspector general defies Trump order, escorted from her office.” As you probably recall, President Trump fired 17 of 74 Inspectors General (IGs). The 17 former highly-paid inspectors, who are now disgruntled ex-employees, got together over soy latte and explored their options. Sue? File a grievance? Call the Union? The ex-IGs, well acquainted with technical legal arguments, dithered over the validity of their own termination notices and wondered whether Trump had “legally fired” them. Of the 17, only former USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong (fake name alert) has decided to hashtag-Resist. FAFO, Phyllis.
Ms. Fong’s War was not quite the heroic standoff that media has painted. It seems more like she just waited for security to come get her from her office. Nevertheless, a handful of corporate media articles about Fong’s departure tried to paint the 22-year bureaucrat as “apolitical” and super-effective since she once requested a listeria investigation or something.
… Now let’s look at that second article.
The President’s enemies are beginning to awaken to the formidible possibility that Trump knows exactly what he is doing and is setting traps for them to fall into. The New York Times covered the story yesterday under the headline, “Trump’s Firings Could Bring Court Cases That Expand His Power.” (The article even mentioned our beloved Ms. Fong.)
Over the past several days, the President has “abruptly fired dozens of officials,” if not hundreds of them. The Times, at least, is beginning to detect a figure of rationality emerging from the fog of administrative war. It claims to have uncovered a pattern among Trump’s firings of powerful federal actors who thought they were safe. These included the 17 aforementioned Inspector Generals (including high-heeled rebel Fong), plus cemented-in officials from agencies like the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Note that all four categories include officials appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Astonishingly, Trump’s mass firings of top-level commissioners from the NLRB, the Privacy Board, and the EEOC, were thought to be illegal and impossible. But even more historic and astonishing, Trump has fired so many it leaves those agencies without quora. They are dead in the water. These now-paralyzed agencies literally cannot undermine Trump’s agenda, even if they wanted to, for the practical reason that there simply aren’t enough commissioners left to vote on anything. They’re frozen.
I don’t know Ms. Fong. But I’ll go out on a limb here. If the President fires you and then you refuse to leave the office, forcing a security showdown, that sort of proves the point of why you were fired in the first place. Inspectors General are classified as Executive Level III or IV, with an annual salary of around $200,000, plus generous benefits.
Because they criticize other officials, Inspectors General are expected to be among the most professional and ethical employees in the federal government.
If Ms. Fong thought her dismissal was wrong, she could have professionally challenged it in several legal and procedural ways. There was no reason to stage an embarrassing spectacle. The way media tells it, Phyllis was a brave Resister. But when security arrived, Phyllis folded like a cheap pair of LuluLemon knock offs. She just walked out. She didn’t chain herself to her desk. She didn’t make them arrest her. Phyllis clearly isn’t martyr material.
Consider this: What made you think most partisan federal workers were any braver than Phyllis Fong? Was it media narratives?
In other words, the radical “Resistance” the plagued Trump’s first term was always a 2-dimensional branding exercise, a cheap cardboard cutout. It was never an actual movement. Bacteria-like, the Resistance only thrived in a temperature-controlled culture of anonymity where defiance was cost-free—where brave bureaucrats could slow-roll policies, leak fake news to the press, and quietly sabotage the Trump 1.0 Administration while still cashing their taxpayer-funded paychecks with ironclad job security.
As we will see, those assumptions are now in doubt. But in 2017, the stakes were low and there were no real risks, not with any real consequences. So partisan federal workers boldly cast themselves as brave warriors for democracy wielding jiu-jitsu-like weapons of bureaucracy.
But Trump 2.0 flipped the script. Now there are real consequences. People are getting fired. There’s real accountability—Trump’s Team seems to know who they are. This time, there’s no guarantee the Resisters can ride out another four years unscathed. The big blue wall is cracking. Now that they’re forced to stand on their principles and take tangible risks, it looks more like a cowardly, disorganized retreat than steely-eyed defiance.
… Haha! Can you see it now? The sheer brilliance of Trump’s plan? If they do sue him, then Trump is likely to grow even more powerful. Their only other option to just take it.
#3
He's going nuclear. The Constitution says advise and consent, it says nothing about firing. He'll take it to SCOTUS on 'separation of powers'. Congress doesn't determine who gets selected or or kept or fired for the law clerks in the judiciary. That's all within one branch's prerogative. He'll argue the same applies to the executive branch. That places SCOTUS in the proverbial horns of a dilemma.
Scott Adams
@ScottAdamsSays
We are entering the "WTF" discovery phase of DOGE.
Quote
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
·
7h
The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.
They literally never denied a payment in their entire career.
Not even once. x.com/robbystarbuck/…
Show more
… Not even once.
Quote
Robby Starbuck
@robbystarbuck
·
15h
The highest ranking Treasury official, David A Lebryk, is resigning rather than complying with a request by @DOGE for access to audit where they’ve spent trillions of dollars a year. Why would career bureaucrats fear an audit by @elonmusk and @doge to see where we can save money?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/01/2025 10:22
Comments ||
Top||
#6
My sister-in-law, who works at the VA, got the buy-out offer email, and doesn’t know what to do. She was previously scheduled to retire in the second quarter of this year, and now needs to figure out whether taking the buy-out and functionally leaving immediately would be better — or even an option — but unfortunately the FAQs she was given don’t answer any of her specific questions.
So if any of the DOGE crew happen to read Rantburg, or if there’s a Rantburger who has a connection there, any guidance would be gratefully received. Jo is actually one of the good ones — always cheerful and upbeat, bright, hardworking, professional… and quietly a conservative Trump voter from the beginning.
#8
TW, I am not connected but have looked at the buyout stuff while I was a GM employee. There is usually a target demographic and a percentage that they are after. To me this looks like a lure for young people that are not doing appreciable work or have been doing low level activism on company time. It also might be an arbitration strategy for negotiating whatever grievance results from the housecleaning. If your sister is already working with HR regarding her retirement it seems OK to point out that she received an email that lacked enough info to evaluate it. It sounds like the idea has been presented without details because the brainstorming is still in progress
*The single-greatest error in this accident was the decision to fly without a second Crew Chief on the left-hand side of the Blackhawk, who could have provided an extra set of eyes to "look out-and-up" to see the approaching American Airlines Passenger plane.
*Night Vision Goggle (NVG) flights result in a sort-of "tunnel vision" for all who wear the NVGs and normal policy in many Army flight units is to force a full crew of 2 pilots and 2 crew chiefs for all NVG flights, so that you always have "eyes out" to both sides of the aircraft, when flying in those conditions. While not mandatory, it is the proper safety call, especially when flying in the vicinity of a busy, major airport such as Reagan Airport (DCA). No matter how competent the pilots and Crew Chiefs may be, this flight needed a second Crew Chief on the left side of the chopper.
#2
REF: Black Hawk vs AA Jet impact.
Col Joe makes some very valid points, and some serious accountability is in order.
Ref: The Philly Learjet Medical transport Jet vs Mall area impact./strong>
Watching the video. The JET impact looks more like a directed accelerated like missile, than a plane having mechanical issues.
#3
^^ When my wife and I first saw the Philly security video, I said it looked like a meteorite. We both agreed that it didn't look like a typical airplane crash.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/01/2025 6:10
Comments ||
Top||
#4
...The DC crash - IMHO, YMMV - is nothing more than a terrible accident, but one that should have been avoidable. It's becoming clear that there have been at least several...well, not necessarily 'close calls', but concerning ones involving helo training in and around the District. I am inclined to believe that the identity of the aircraft commander is irrelevant, but DOD isn't doing itself any favors by sitting on it.
As far as the Philly accident goes, I believe this was an accident as well - though the comparisons between this video and the Pentagon strike on 9/11 are tough to avoid. I've not seen anything yet about a mayday, though it's still early in the investigation.
#5
If the Philly aircraft had hit the mall building it would seem like suspicious. Aiming for the mall parking lot may have been the least bad option that the pilot had.
Posted by: Difar Dave ||
02/01/2025 9:21
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Trying desperately to avoit ground casualties. Not an uncommon act of valor for a dying man.
#9
Some report seeing an explosion on the Philly Learjet shortly after takeoff and before it descended. Quite possibly related to medical equipment on board.
If a spark or small explosion occurred it may well have set off the full fuel supply.
#11
Fine. Why was the helicopter near DCA at 350 ft, when the max for the down river corridor was 200 ft? Why the last minute right deviation directly into the regional jet, which was lit up for landing, with the usual string of approaching jets behind it? Why didn't the controller request immediate descent back to the required altitude? Blancolirio Report
Text by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] New US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the war in Ukraine.
1. Ukraine has been set back 100 years; its energy grid is destroyed. And how many Ukrainians have left Ukraine and are now living in other countries? They may never come back.
2. There is one lie - we were told that Ukraine would not only defeat Russia, but destroy it, throwing it back completely to the borders of 2012 or 2014, to Crimea and other territories. But the reality is this: for a year and a half, Ukraine has been asking for funding to maintain a stalemate, protracted conflict.
3. The president's position is that this is a protracted conflict and it needs to be ended. And it needs to be ended through negotiations. In all negotiations, both sides have to give up something. Putin won't talk to Zelenskiy because Putin considers him an illegitimate politician, not having been reelected following his first term. He can't sign a truce or peace agreement. Putin won't talk to the US or EU, who started the war, because they can't impose a political solution (neutrality) on an ally.
4. If you look around the world, I would say that in many cases our adversaries are stronger than ever, and have become stronger in the last four years. Of course, Russia does not consider itself weaker than it was four years ago. They now control territory that they did not have when Donald Trump left office. The US allowed Russia to grow stronger merely on the basis of its refusal to negotiate on Russia's security requirements. The US State Department didn't do its job, but instead did the bidding of politicians.
This is the price of giving up Istanbul, which is beneficial for Ukraine.
Eh? What does Istanbul, the capitol of Turkey, have to do with it?
Any further conditions will be much worse for what remains of Ukraine.
[Regnum] US President Donald Trump plans to achieve a settlement of the Ukrainian conflict through negotiations. This was stated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an interview with journalist Megyn Kelly.
"The president's position is that this is a protracted conflict and it must be ended. And it must be ended through negotiations," he noted.
Rubio also noted that the upcoming negotiations could be tense. The Secretary of State also suggested that all parties to the conflict would have to give up something for the sake of a settlement.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on January 22, Trump instructed Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg to end the Ukrainian conflict within 100 days. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the Republican intends to personally oversee the negotiation process on Ukraine. Later, on January 23, Trump added that his team's efforts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict are "already underway."
#1
Eh? What does Istanbul, the capitol of Turkey, have to do with it?
Istanbul agreements 2022 “The treaty envisioned in the communiqué would proclaim Ukraine as a permanently neutral, nonnuclear state. Ukraine would renounce any intention to join military alliances or allow foreign military bases or troops on its soil.
Ukrainian Armed Forces prevented the evacuation of bodies of brutally murdered residents of a Kursk village
[Regnum] Ukrainian servicemen fired mortars at Russian fighters during the evacuation of brutally murdered civilians from the village of Russkoye Porechnoye in the Kursk region. This was reported by the chief of staff of the motorized rifle unit of the North group of forces with the call sign Vostok.
"On January 24, the first woman was pulled out. After that, mortar and cluster munitions shelling began. A 120mm mortar fired at us, there were about 40 (rounds fired)
, two mortars were used. And cluster munitions, as well as FPV drones," he explained to journalists.
According to the Russian military man, the enemy is probably afraid of publicity for all the atrocities they committed against civilians.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on January 31, the representative of the UN Secretary General Stephane Dujarric commented on the atrocities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk village of Russkoye Porechnoye. He emphasized that the world organization is against the death and murder of any civilian population.
Civilians in the temporarily occupied territories must be protected from torture and murder by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in accordance with international law, stressed Fatima Sator, official representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Civilians in the hands of enemy forces must be treated humanely under all circumstances, she added.
The Russian Investigative Committee has established the involvement of five Ukrainian servicemen in the murder of 22 civilians in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye, liberated by the Russian Armed Forces. According to the agency, from September 28 to November 24, 2024, the suspects killed 11 men and three women, and also raped and killed eight more women. They then moved the bodies to the basements of private homes.
More from regnum.ru Ukrainian Armed Forces Militants Tortured Elderly People in Kursk Village Before Murder
The civilians killed by militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye in the Kursk Region had their ankles shot, and one man had his skull smashed. This was told to journalists by the chief of staff of the motorized rifle unit of the North group of forces with the call sign Vostok.
According to the officer, after entering the village of Russkoye Porechnoye, Russian soldiers checked the basements of houses, believing that Ukrainian militants could be hiding there.
Bodies of local residents were found in three basements.
Vostok reported that two bodies were found in one shelter: a woman had three penetrating gunshot wounds to the chest, and a man had also been shot at point-blank range.
"In the second basement we found the bodies of three men and two women, their ankles were shot. The dead were elderly - somewhere over 60 years old. It is clear that they were also shot in the chest. One had three shots in the back of the head, the skull was destroyed," the soldier explained.
In the third basement lay the bodies of two men with bullet wounds; they were pelted with grenades so that the bodies would be unrecognizable, Vostok added.
His colleague with the call sign Lord was one of the first to enter the village and found the dead in the basements. According to him, the militants beat the civilians before killing them - hematomas testify to this. Six people, the fighter assumed, were killed in their sleep.
As reported by IA Regnum, bodies of civilians with their hands tied were found in the basements of houses in Russkoye Porechnoye. According to one of the soldiers, the people were tortured, and there were traces of bullet wounds on each of the bodies. Probably, the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers finished off the wounded.
Even more from regnum.ru Ukrainian soldier on the order to liquidate all residents of Russkoye Porechny
The Ukrainian command gave the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), who invaded the territory of the Kursk region, an order to eliminate the civilian population in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye in the Sudzhansky district. This was reported on January 31 by captured Ukrainian serviceman Yevgeny Fabrisenko.
He clarified that the company commander ordered the settlement to be cleared of civilians.
The soldier added that civilians were shot in their own homes.
“We entered the village and cleared out houses, we didn’t storm it, we saw and shot,” RIA Novosti quoted Fabricenko as saying.
According to him, the group leader ordered them to take out the old people, tie them up and beat them, and then they killed one elderly couple with a grenade.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the Russian Investigative Committee has established the involvement of five Ukrainian servicemen from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade in the murder of 22 civilians in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye. Among the suspects are Fabrisenko, the commander of the 11th company of the fourth battalion with the call sign Kum, and three servicemen with the call signs Motyl, Provodnik, and Khudozhnik.
Slavyansk is where the war between Russian backed militants and Ukrainian military began in 2014, under the leadership of (now disgraced) Russian reserve FSB colonel Igor Girkin (Igor Strelkov). Its capture at the same time is both strategic and symbolic. by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] The Russian Armed Forces are consolidating their successes in the SVO zone. Over the past month, the settlements of Kurakhovo and Velikaya Novosyolka were liberated in Donbass. The offensive continues in the area of Pokrovsk, the center of the enemy's defense in the eastern part of the DPR. To the west, Russian troops are pushing back the enemy in the area of Chasov Yar and Toretsk, advancing in the direction of Konstantinovka.
After the liberation of Pokrovsk, the last major defensive hub, the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, will remain under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The forces advancing from Pokrovsk and Chasov Yar, like two pincers, slowly squeeze Slavyansk from both sides, creating the contours of the future encirclement of a large group of enemy forces.
And although the battles for Pokrovsk are still ongoing, it is already possible to predict how the situation in Donbass will develop in the coming months.
In 2014, Slavyansk became a symbol of resistance to the DPR. The militia's takeover of the city inspired resistance throughout the Donbass. During the "anti-terrorist operation" launched by Kiev, the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk area was surrounded, but the local garrison held the line for several months.
It is symbolic that the liberation of Donbass may end where it began 11 years ago.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, even when faced with many problems, do not plan to retreat without a fight. Therefore, the liberation of the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk-Druzhkovka-Konstantinovka agglomeration may become the most difficult task for the Russian army during the entire period of the SVO. We are talking about 5,000 square kilometers of territory, dense urban development, where more than 500 thousand people lived as of 2022. There is also a large industrial zone here, turned by the enemy into a solid fortified area.
A frontal assault on this, without exaggeration, citadel could result in major losses, so the hypothetical “Slavic operation” should develop in several stages, military expert Alexander Mikhailovsky notes in a commentary for the Regnum news agency.
"Even after the liberation of Chasov Yar, there will still be Seversk and the Serebryanskoye forestry area. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have clung very tightly to this area of territory because it is strategically important. With the liberation of Seversk, the road to Slavyansk itself will open. So in the foreseeable future, we should expect that the front in this area will begin to move," the expert predicts.
In the spring of 2014, Seversk came under the control of the DPR militia forces and became a symbol of resistance on par with Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Krasny Liman, the source recalled. However, they failed to maintain control over the city. And during the SVO, Russian troops again reached the approaches to Seversk, but so far the Ukrainian Armed Forces have managed to hold the front in this area.
The resumption of hostilities near Seversk will mean the beginning of the "Slavyansk operation". But for the complete encirclement of Slavyansk, another important task must be solved.
LEFT BANK, RIGHT BANK
In the context of the liberation of the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk district, the area of territory at the junction of the territories of the DPR, LPR and the Kharkov region, squeezed between the Zherebets, Oskol and Seversky Donets rivers, is of key importance. The cities of Svyatogorsk and Liman (Krasny Liman), which literally "hang" over Slavyansk, are located in this area.
Supplying Ukrainian troops in this area is seriously complicated by the lack of proper crossings. Previously, Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft consistently destroyed bridges across the Oskol River, so the Ukrainian military was forced to build several pontoon crossings, which are also regularly subject to air strikes.
Now, in the "interfluve", after a long pause, military actions have resumed. Advancing from the Svatovo region, Russian troops liberated the settlements of Zeleny Gai, Vishnevoye and Pervomayskoye.
Further advance in this area could allow the enemy group to be cut in two and force the Ukrainian Armed Forces to retreat beyond the Oskol River. However, even with the liberation of the city of Liman, which is adjacent to Slavyansk, it will still be impossible to proceed directly to storming the city, note front-line sources of the Regnum news agency familiar with the situation in this area.
"We were already in Liman, and I can say that the fighting was limited to mobile groups crossing the Seversky Donets in both directions and subsequent clashes on both banks. The bridge between Liman and Slavyansk in the area of Raigorodka was blown up by the Ukrainian Armed Forces back in 2022, so it is not so easy to cross the river in this place," the source notes.
To encircle Slavyansk from the north, it is necessary to bypass the city and cut the M-03 highway to Izyum. Ukrainian sources fear that Russian troops could force the Oskol in the Gorokhovatka area north of Slavyansk and break through to Izyum.
But before that, it is necessary to completely clear the “interfluve” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
CUT THROUGH THE ENEMY'S DEFENSES
The most vulnerable section of the enemy front in the central part of Donbass is the area of Konstantinovka. Russian troops are simultaneously advancing on the city from the northeast, from Chasov Yar, and from the southeast - from Toretsk.
According to reports from the field, the Ukrainian Armed Forces removed everything valuable from the city, including police and fire equipment, several months ago. According to experts, the assault on the city may develop according to a proven and repeatedly tested tactic.
At the first stage, the forces advancing from Chasov Yar can cut off supplies between Konstantinovka and Druzhkovka. Earlier, the Russian Armed Forces were also able to take control of another enemy logistics route - the highway between Konstantinovka and Pokrovsk.
Only after the city is surrounded will Russian troops be able to force the enemy to retreat. Or begin an assault.
"There are many options for how events will develop. One of them is that the enemy's front will be cut in several places. It is possible to wedge between Druzhkovka and Kramatorsk, Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. In short, to create separate pockets of defense instead of a continuous front. But this is, as they say, "drawing arrows", only an assumption. Only the command knows how it will actually be," notes expert Mikhailovsky.
The final stage of the operation in this case will be a strike on Slavyansk from the rear, which could be carried out after the liberation of the Pokrovsky district.
HOW WILL THE UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES RESPOND?
Naturally, the Ukrainian military command understands how events on the front may develop in the coming weeks and months. But it seems that Kyiv has no opportunity to influence the course of the Russian operation.
After the tactic of creating “fortress cities” failed to justify itself, the Ukrainian Armed Forces never found any effective way to stop the advance of the Russian Armed Forces, time after time wasting their forces in attempts to prolong the fighting.
The fighting in the Velikaya Novosyolka area showed that this tactic does not bring the desired results: Russian troops defeat the enemy through maneuver, intercepting supply routes and occupying key heights.
According to reports from the field, the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk region has been intensively preparing for defense in recent months. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are focusing on the industrial zone of the Novokramatorsky and Starokramatorsky machine-building plants, the Energomashspetsstal plant, the Kramatorsk heavy machine-building plant, and a number of other enterprises.
The factory workshops are stockpiling ammunition that could allow the garrison to conduct combat operations even in complete encirclement. Similar reports are coming from Slavyansk, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are "settling" the Central, Southern and Eastern industrial zones, and Druzhkovka, where the enemy is fortifying the Druzhkovka Machine-Building Plant.
"Nobody can say now what will happen next, but we know that there are no impossible tasks. Our aviation is "breaking" fortified industrial zones using heavy aerial bombs. And ordinary soldiers have long worked out the tactics of assault. So, no matter how they prepare, we see it and react," notes a frontline source of the Regnum news agency.
The priority task for the Russian army in Donbass is still the liberation of Pokrovsk. The city is practically blockaded, and Ukrainian sources report an "extremely difficult" situation on this section of the front.
It is unknown whether the Ukrainian Armed Forces will decide to fight for the city to the last or retreat to the territory of the Dnepropetrovsk region, but the liberation of Pokrovsk will become a prologue to the battle for Slavyansk, and therefore, for the final liberation of Donbass.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Ukrainian Armed Forces Contain Russian Attacks in Eastern and Southern Ukraine.
The Pokrovsk direction remains the hottest. There, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled more than 30 Russian attacks on about 15 settlements.
Since the beginning of the current day, 77 combat clashes have occurred on the front. Ukrainian defenders are repelling Russian attacks in 12 directions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in an operational report as of 16:00 on Friday, January 31.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, the enemy attacked the Volchansk area twice.
In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy once advanced on the positions of our units near Peschanoye.
In the Liman direction, the invaders carried out five attacks near Zelenaya Dolina, Novomikhaylovka and Kolodtsy. Two clashes are ongoing.
In the Seversky direction, the occupiers tried to advance forward six times in the areas of Belogorovka, Verkhnekamennoye and Spornoye. Two clashes are still ongoing.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the occupiers stormed the areas of the settlements of Chasov Yar, Stupochki and Belaya Gora three times. One battle is still ongoing.
In the Toretsk direction, the Russians tried to advance near Toretsk. Three enemy attacks were repelled there.
In the Pokrovsk direction, the enemy has already carried out 38 assaults in the areas of the settlements of Mashevka, Elizavetovka, Novotoretskoye, Mirolyubovka, Promin, Lisovka, Pokrovsk, Novoukrainka, Udachnoye, Kotlyarovka, Novoandreyevka, Alekseyevka, Andreyevka, Dachnoye and Ulakly. The defense forces have repelled 33 enemy attacks.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, fighting continues near the settlements of Konstantinopol and Razdolnoye. So far, four attacks have been repelled there.
In the Gulyai-Polye direction, two enemy assaults continue in the direction of the settlements of Novopol and Novosyolka.
In the Orekhov direction, the enemy once tried to advance towards Novodanilovka and was rebuffed.
In the Dnieper direction, our defenders repelled one enemy attack.
In the Kursk region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled six offensive actions by the invaders, two combat clashes are still ongoing.
Let us recall that on January 30, about 1,700 Russians were "minus" at the front in 24 hours. The total losses of the aggressor country Russia since the beginning of the war are approaching 840 thousand people.
A Chinese national who organizes pro-Hamas rallies at UCLA just got arrested and her visa revoked. She’s going back to China. pic.twitter.com/jWqBA0TS4O
#3
Finished trashing America, who
Was now bound for Zhongguo? Song Yaowu!
Back in Beijing again
The recycled "Binbin"
Is a true Xi Confucius. Who knew?
#4
Columbia Activists Cement Toilets for Gaza The anti-Israel activists at Columbia have really stepped up their vandalism game. Usually they are content to spray paint a few buildings or overturn some furniture. This week they have escalated to pouring cement into all the toilets in a building
#5
1)/\...As soon as she hit the ground, she'll conform in lockstep with the CCP. I wouldn't be surprised if she were wearing a red arm band in 5 years!
[IsraelTimes] Syria’s new authorities announce the arrest of a cousin of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad, accused of orchestrating a crackdown in Daraa, where the 2011 uprising began.
Atif Najib, the former head of political security in Daraa in southern Syria, was arrested in Latakia, on the country’s west coast, the official SANA news agency reports, citing a senior security official.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor says he is the highest-ranking figure to be detained since Islamist-led fighters toppled Assad on December 8.
“The criminal Atif Najib has been referred to the competent authorities to be tried and held accountable for the crimes he committed against the Syrian people,” SANA reports.
The protest movement against Assad began in Daraa on March 15, 2011, after 15 students were arrested for allegedly writing anti-government slogans on the city’s walls. Residents said the students were tortured, leading to a protest to demand their release that ended in bloodshed. Najib, blamed for the crackdown, was dismissed soon after. He was on a US Treasury sanctions list alongside other Syrian officials.
UNRWA is the PLO’s charity wing at the UN. In Gaza that means Hamas, and a large number of UNRWA employees are double dipping as Hamas turbans of one sort or another. Some even joined in the fun of the 10/7 invasion of Israel, and/or partook in the myriad pleasures of holding some of the hostages for Hamas over the past fifteen months. One can understand Israel’s revulsion.
[IsraelTimes] Official says organization ‘continues to be the backbone of the international humanitarian response’ in Gaza
The UN’s Paleostinian relief agency said Friday its humanitarian work across the West Bank and Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... was still ongoing despite an Israeli ban that took effect a day before and what it described as hostility towards its staff.
An Israeli law adopted in October bans operations by UNRWA (United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Relief and Works Agency for Paleostine Refugees) on Israeli land — including East Jerusalem — and contact with Israeli authorities from January 30.
Britannia, La Belle France and Germany on Friday reiterated their concern over Israel implementing the new law, which humanitarian agencies say will have a huge impact on devastated Gaza as staff and supplies transit to the Paleostinian enclave via Israel. Israel says other organizations are already handling the majority of aid work in Gaza.
"We continue to provide services," Juliette Touma, director of communications of UNRWA, told a press briefing in Geneva. "In Gaza, UNRWA continues to be the backbone of the international humanitarian response. We continue to have international personnel in Gaza, and we continue to bring in trucks of basic supplies."
She said any disruptions to its work in Gaza would put a ceasefire deal that halted the war between Israel and Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... at risk.
"If UNRWA is not allowed to continue to bring and distribute supplies, then the fate of this very fragile ceasefire is going to be at risk and is going to be in jeopardy," she said.
Tens of thousands of Paleostinian refugees in East Jerusalem also receive education, healthcare and other services from UNRWA.
Touma said that its Paleostinian staff in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are facing difficulties, citing examples of stone-throwing and hold-ups at checkpoints and protests at its sites, blaming "Israeli hard boys."
"They face an exceptionally hostile environment as a fierce disinformation campaign against UNRWA continues," she said. "It has been a really rough ride, it has not been easy. Our staff have not been protected."
Israeli protesters vandalized a UN sign on Thursday outside one of its East Jerusalem compounds by spray-painting a blue Star of David on it.
International staff have already left after their visas expired, she added. The agency has reported more than 270 of its staff killed in the 15-month Gaza war and called for investigations.
Israel has long been critical of UNRWA, saying it perpetuates the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict by bestowing refugee status to the descendants of refugees — a designation not afforded to any other refugees in the world. It has also accused the agency of promoting hatred in its schools, fostering Paleostinian dependence on aid over decades through its system, and allowing snuffies to infiltrate its ranks, with some taking part in the October 7 atrocities and hundreds more having ties to terror groups.
The ceasefire deal has allowed for a surge in humanitarian aid and enabled the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for Paleostinian prisoners held by Israel, many of them convicted murderers.
Before the agreement, experts had warned of imminent famine in parts of northern Gaza, a charge Israel repeatedly rejected. Supplies have since risen and the World Food Programme said that more than 32,000 tons of food had entered Gaza since the January 19 deal took effect.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has said Israel was committed to facilitating humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, saying aid should go through other international agencies and NGOs.
"Humanitarian aid doesn’t equal UNRWA and those who wish to support the humanitarian aid effort in the Gaza Strip should invest their resources in organizations alternative to UNRWA," he said in a statement. "We will abide by the law and we will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid."
UNRWA is now banned from operating on Israeli soil, and contact between it and Israeli officials is also forbidden.
The ban was passed by the Knesset in November with a wide majority, with the support of opposition parties, amid a series of revelations about employees of the agency who were actively involved in terror groups in the Gaza Strip, participation of some of its staff in the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and slaughter, and repeated use of UNRWA infrastructure for terror activities.
Israel has also provided evidence that the agency’s schools incited hatred of Israel and glorification of attacks against Israelis.
UNRWA was established in 1949 following Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. It provides aid, health and education to millions of Paleostinians in Gaza, the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries — Syria, Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... and Jordan.
Some 5.9 million people are registered as Paleostinian refugees by UNRWA, because they are descended from Arabs displaced in the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.
It is one of only two UN refugee agencies. While UNRWA caters to Paleostinians, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is responsible for all other refugees around the world.
Government front man David Mencer told journalists on Wednesday that "UNRWA is riddled with Hamas operatives," adding that "if a state funds UNRWA, that state is funding terrorists."
"UNRWA employs over 1,200 Hamas members, including snuffies who carried out the October 7 massacre," Mencer said. "This isn’t aid, it’s direct financial support for terror."
UN chief António Guterres ...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years... on Monday demanded that Israel rescind its order.
"I regret this decision and request that the government of Israel retract it," he said, stressing that UNRWA was "irreplaceable."
The agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said UNRWA’s capacity to distribute aid "far exceeds that of any other entity."
He called Israel’s actions against UNRWA a "relentless assault... harming the lives and future of Paleostinians across the occupied Paleostinian territory."
Israel has provided evidence that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly 2023 attack and insists that other agencies can pick up the slack to provide essential services, aid and reconstruction — something the UN and many donor governments dispute.
A series of investigations, including one led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality-related issues" at UNRWA, but claimed Israel had not provided evidence for its headline allegation.
Under US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... , who returned to the White House earlier this month, Washington has thrown its weight behind Israel’s move, accusing UNRWA of overstating the impact of the decision.
#1
The reason is simple.
It is who the UNRWA is aiding that is the issue.
It is supporting TERRORISTS and should be placed on the Terrorist List. Thus banning its support and funding.
[IsraelTimes] ‘We do a lot for them, and they’re gonna do it,’ says US president, whose envoy Witkoff says Gaza rebuild could take 10 to 15 years: ‘There is nothing left standing’
”Nice countries youse guys got there,” Trump added gently. “Sure would be a shame if something happened to your kneecaps.”
UNBELIEVABLE, WATCH 🔴
Trump says Egypt and Jordan will be taking in Palestinians
REPORTER: The president and the king of Jordan have both said that they, won't take in, displaced people from Gaza like you suggested. Is there anything you can do to make them do that? I mean,… pic.twitter.com/tsnQjC42fT
US President Donald Trump ...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election. Then he beat Kamala while dodging bullets... insisted on Thursday that Jordan and Egypt will support a proposal to resettle Paleostinians in their countries rather than in a rebuilt Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip, despite flat refusals from both countries to consider the move.
"They will do it. They will do it. They’re gonna do it, okay? We do a lot for them, and they’re gonna do it," Trump said when asked about the proposal during a photo op in the Oval Office.
Both countries have been getting paid a noticeable portion of their annual national budgets to keep the peace treaty signed way back when. President Trump is redefining refusal to accept Gazans — after Hamas promised to repeat 10/7 repeatedly until Israel is conquered — as a refusal to keep the peace treaty.
Both Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah explicitly rejected the proposal on Wednesday.
Wednesday was a long time ago in Trump time. Another hundred or more presidential executive orders have been signed since then — and ditto by the new temporary and Senate-approved department secretaries and sub-secretaries — entirely changing the landscape at home and abroad. Did y’all notice that pretty much all government spending is being frozen pending review independent of the work the DOGE group is doing? Funding and projects heading in your direction are included in that…
"Regarding what is being said about the displacement of Paleostinians, it can never be tolerated or allowed because of its impact on Egyptian national security," Sissi said.
Trump said earlier this week that the issue would be discussed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he travels to Washington next week.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who has spent the past week on a diplomatic trip around the region, including a visit to Gaza during his larger trip to Israel, told Axios Thursday that there is "almost nothing left" of the Strip and rebuilding the war-ravaged enclave could take 10 to 15 years.
"People are moving north to get back to their homes and see what happened and turn around and leave... There is no water and no electricity. It is stunning just how much damage occurred there," Witkoff told the US news website after visiting Gaza.
Witkoff also told Axios he has not discussed with Trump the idea of moving Paleostinians from Gaza.
A UN damage assessment released this month showed that clearing over 50 million tons of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s campaign could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
"There has been this perception we can get to a solid plan for Gaza in five years, but it’s impossible. This is a 10- to 15-year rebuilding plan," Witkoff said.
"There is nothing left standing. Many unwent kaboom! ordnances. It is not safe to walk there. It is very dangerous. I wouldn’t have known this without going there and inspecting," he added.
The debris is believed to be contaminated with asbestos, with some refugee camps struck during the war known to have been built with the material. The rubble also likely contains human remains. The Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... -run Gaza health ministry estimates that 10,000 bodies are missing under the debris.
’A BUSINESSMAN’S APPROACH’
Hailing Witkoff’s role in the hostage negotiations, US Secretary of State style='border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:gray;' title='Marco Rubio'>Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... told the Megyn Kelly Podcast on Thursday that Trump has "brought a businessman’s approach to a very delicate and intractable foreign policy challenge and delivered a ceasefire that obviously has tenuous and long-term challenges to it, but there are hostages being released every day. That didn’t happen for over a year-and-a-half."
Rubio added that Witkoff "brought the same kind of business approach to some of these challenges."
Rubio was asked later during the interview whether he believes the American citizens slated to be released in the first phase of the hostage deal will indeed go free, and what the United States will do if they do not.
"I expect we will [see the hostages go free] because that’s the agreement that was made," he said. "The core problem here remains... that as long as there is an entity like Hamas, [whose] express purpose is the destruction of the Jewish state, who is willing to commit horrifying atrocities against civilians, against teenage girls at a concert and do the things that they’ve done, and take hostages for a year-and-a-half — babies and elderly — and murder, and all the things that they did, that’s a threat to Israel’s national security."
"What country in the world can be expected to live alongside an enemy that is armed, capable and willing to commit horrifying atrocities? You can’t. So I think that the ceasefire is important because it brought an end to the destruction and allowed some of the hostages to be freed — at an extraordinary cost," Rubio continued, referring to the release of Paleostinian security prisoners.
"Think how unfair that trade is, but it tells you how much we value life compared to how the other side, the Hamas animals, view this," he said.
"The real challenge is going to be when the ceasefire period expires. Who is going to govern Gaza? Who’s going to rebuild Gaza? Who’s going to be in charge of Gaza? Because if the people who are in charge of Gaza are the same guys that created October 7, then we still have the same problem," Rubio said, referring to the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken, sparking the war in Gaza.
Rubio also said that the developments in the Middle East, such as the strengthening of the Lebanese government, the fall of Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... in Syria and the weakening of Hezbollah and Iran, open the door "to things like a deal between Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... and Israel, which would change the dynamic of the region."
Hopefully this, from Wednesday, will not dent Trump’s leverage:
[Israel Times] The European Union promises 3 billion euros ($3.1 billion) of financing and investments for Jordan as part of a new “strategic” partnership.
“With the current geopolitical shifts and growing crises in the region, strengthening the EU-Jordan partnership is the right decision at the right time,” European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen says.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II was in Brussels to oversee the signing of the agreement, which runs from 2025 through 2027.
“Jordan is playing a critical role to consolidate the ceasefire in Gaza and the EU acknowledges the importance of Jordan as a regional hub for humanitarian assistance,” von der Leyen says.
“Jordan’s leadership in supporting Syria’s transition highlights its pivotal role in shaping the region’s future.”
[IsraelTimes] Military says targets ‘posed a threat to Israeli home front and troops,’ included a military facility and sites at border crossings with Syria
Israeli fighter jets carried out a series of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on Hezbollah targets in the Beqaa Valley of eastern Leb ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... overnight Thursday, the military said.
The IDF said in a statement Friday morning that the targets, which "posed a threat to the Israeli home front and troops," included a military facility with an underground weapons manufacturing site and infrastructure at border crossings between Syria and Lebanon which the terror group used to smuggle arms.
The strikes were carried out after Hezbollah launched a surveillance drone at Israel Thursday, which the military says was intercepted. The IDF said the drone was a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
"The (army) continues to remain committed to the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon, and will not permit any terrorist activity of this kind," the military said.
No sirens were triggered by the drone incursion, the military noted in its statement, adding: "The IDF will not allow terror activities by the Hezbollah terror organization in Lebanon, and will act to remove any threat to Israel or its citizens."
It was the first such incident since the ceasefire deal went into effect in late November, after more than a year of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group. The agreement forbids the terror group from operating south of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Israel, and allows Israel to respond to imminent threats.
According to the military, the drone was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force using a ground-based air defense system before it crossed the border into Israel.
The incident came in the wake of an Israeli airstrike on a Hezbollah weapons convoy on Tuesday, and reports — unconfirmed by the military — of an Israeli dronezap on Wednesday.
[IsraelTimes] Top Iranian diplomat says attack would be ‘one of the biggest historical mistakes the US could make,’ urges unfreezing of sanctioned funds
Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... will respond immediately and decisively if its nuclear sites are attacked which would lead to an "all-out war in the region," Tehran’s foreign minister told Al Jazeera TV in an interview aired on Friday.
Israel and the US launching a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would be "one of the biggest historical mistakes the US could make," Abbas Araghchi said through a translator.
Concerns have grown among Iran’s top decision-makers that US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... might in his second term empower Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran’s nuclear sites while further tightening US sanctions on its oil industry.
Those concerns, coupled with mounting anger within Iran over economic conditions, could drive Tehran toward engaging in negotiations with the Trump administration over the fate of its fast-advancing nuclear program.
Araghchi suggested that the United States could free blocked Iranian funds as a first confidence-building step between the two hostile countries. How about "NO"?
"Iranian assets and funds have been frozen at various points by the US (which) has not fulfilled its previous pledges (to free them). These things can be done by the US administration in order to bring confidence between us," Araghchi said.
In 2018, then-President Trump reneged on the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and a group of world powers and re-imposed harsh US sanctions as part of his "maximum pressure" policy against the country.
In response, Tehran breached the deal in several ways including by accelerating its uranium enrichment.
Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought to use economic pressure to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program, ballistic missile program and regional activities.
[IsraelTimes] Officials say crossing will initially be opened for 50 injured Hamas operatives and 50 wounded civilians
Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ’s Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt is set to reopen Saturday under the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... . It will be run by Paleostinian Authority representatives alongside monitors from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , according to officials familiar with the discussions.
"The mediators informed Hamas of Israel’s approval to open Rafah crossing tomorrow, Saturday, after the completion of the fourth batch of prisoner exchange," a Hamas official told AFP.
The source explained that injured Paleostinians would be evacuated through the crossing, "as per the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement."
The Rafah Crossing with Egypt was one of the main entry points into the Gaza Strip and a vital conduit for aid, but the border has been closed since Israeli forces seized it in May last year, largely due to Egyptian refusal to keep the passage open so long as Israeli forces held it.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday that the 27-member bloc had deployed a monitoring mission at the crossing "at the request of the Paleostinians and the Israelis."
"It will support Paleostinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care," she wrote on X.
Egyptian security sources confirmed that members of the EU team had arrived at the facility.
The crossing will now be run by members of the Paleostinian Authority and European monitors, PA and Hamas officials said.
People will only be allowed to travel in one direction, from Gaza to Egypt, for the time being, officials said.
It will be opened initially for 50 injured Hamas operatives and 50 maimed civilians, along with the people escorting them, the officials said, adding that a further 100 people, most likely students, would be allowed through on humanitarian grounds.
Gaza’s health ministry said the transportation of patients from two hospitals in the north and south of the enclave would be coordinated with the World Health Organization.
A civilian EU mission to help monitor the Rafah Crossing began work there in 2005 but was suspended in June 2007 after Hamas violent mostly peacefully took over the Gaza Strip from Fatah, which controls the PA.
In standby mode thereafter, the mission had maintained 10 international and eight local staff.
Spain, Italia and La Belle France are now contributing personnel to the renewed mission.
The Spanish contingent comprises eight security specialists and two agents assigned to the border management team, joining two Spanish members of the mission already deployed there, the foreign and interior ministries in Madrid said.
La Belle France said it had deployed three gendarmes specialized in border policing on Friday as part of the EU mission, while Italia said it had sent seven paramilitary Carabinieri officers to join two Italians already at the Rafah mission.
German ministries are also discussing sending a contingent.
[IsraelTimes] Turkey condemns an Israeli strike it says killed three of its citizens who attempted to illegally cross from Lebanon to Israel.
The ministry has not given the time or location of the incident, but it seems to be referring to a January 11 strike on suspects near the border.
“It has been learned that the three Turkish citizens, with whom contact had been lost while attempting to cross illegally from Lebanon to Israel, lost their lives as a result of an Israeli airstrike in the region,” the foreign ministry says in a statement.
The ministry says it is working to repatriate their bodies to Turkey “as soon as possible.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms this unlawful attack that resulted in the death of our citizens,” the ministry says, urging Israel to “immediately end its aggressive policies that disregard human life and escalate tensions in our region.”
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2025
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11140 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
attempting to cross illegally from Lebanon to Israel
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:58 Official summary of the Office for Documentation of War Crimes of Ukraine from 00:00 01/31/2025 to 00:00 02/01/2025.
A total of 42 facts of armed attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
There were reports of 12 civilians being injured.
DAMAGED:
Municipal equipment,
A bus,
17 residential buildings,
Seven cars,
Seven civil infrastructure facilities.
A total of 42 armed attacks in the Gorlovka direction.
A total of 119 units of various ammunition were fired.
19:34 "Seventy-seconds" are firing direct fire.
Crew of the T-72B3M tank of the Dnepr group of forces destroyed UAV control center and Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel on the right bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region.
19:05 LBS in Novospassky has been clarified –MAP.
19:04 Russian Ministry of Defense: You can’t escape our drone operators.
Servicemen of the reconnaissance unit of the 25th combined arms army of the "West" group of forces, using a UAV, detected the movement of a pickup truck with a crew of a 120mm mortar of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a wooded area in the SVO zone.
The target was detected promptly destroyed FPV drone calculation.
17:31 A combat pair of Su-35s and Su-34s is in action.
Su-35s crew accompanied Su-34 fighter-bomber, which carried out an attack on a Ukrainian Armed Forces stronghold in the Kursk border area.
17:05 Russian Armed Forces advance to food depot in Shevchenko Chasova Yara microdistrict –MAP.
17:05 “We rush to the positions and destroy everything there.”
Crews of the T-90 tank of the Guards Motor Rifle Division of the "Southern" group of forces perform tasks to support assault units and destroy firing points and fortified positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kurakhovsky direction.
When performing fire missions, tank crews closely interact with reconnaissance units, which guide combat vehicles and adjust fire on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions.
16:37 Destruction of a T-64 tank of the 1st Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces using the Lancet UAV in the area of the settlement of Tarasovka in the Donetsk region –MAP.
16:16 Broadcast ended: FPV drone operator rammed drone-relay for the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants.
Servicemen of the North group of forces continue to track down and destroy various enemy UAVs in the border area of the Kursk region.
15:53 Advance of the 25th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade on the Dvurechansky sector of the front. The village of Novomlynsk east of Dvurechnaya has been liberated –MAP.
15:45 Russian military engineers are clearing logistics routes in the Khar'kov direction.
According to intelligence, the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants remotely mined logistics routes using an unmanned aerial vehicle in the Khar'kov direction. An engineering patrol of the North group of troops promptly moved to the suspected mining site.
The sappers found anti-tank mines TM-62 and PTM-3 with magnetic sensors. The group commander decided to destroy the mines with a surface charge.
15:20 The Russian Armed Forces have advanced into the plantings south of Dachnoye on the Kurakhovsky sector of the front –MAP.
15:12 The Russian Armed Forces eliminated the “pocket” near Dzerzhinsk and occupied the “ATO” line of fortifications –MAP.
13:50 Dnepropetrovsk direction.
Units of the RF Armed Forces lead clearing the settlement of Uspenovka. The enemy still maintains a presence in the southern part. Our assaults are getting the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of the remains of buildings and basements.
Drone activity has decreased slightly.
Our units are attacking Novoalexandrivka.
In the Nadezhdinka area, the Russian Armed Forces are repelling counterattacks, attacking enemy strongholds and expanding control of territory to the south.
Fighting began for landings on the approaches to Zaporozhye (Donetsk) and Preobrazhenka.
Novoandreevka has been cleared and has come under the complete control of our assault groups.
There are battles for Sribnoe (Serebryannoe). It is too early to talk about consolidating the village.
To the south, there are battles for control over the Sarannaya and Stavkovaya gullies.
13:45 Rubicon drone operators left the enemy without communication.
Reconnaissance units, having discovered the Ukrainian Armed Forces' communication system in the Kursk direction, promptly transmitted the data to strike forces. The target was found in the shortest possible time.destroyedcalculations of FPV drones of the Rubicon Center.
12:52 Soldiers from BARS-2, 25th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade report that Novomlynsk is under the control of the Russian army –MAP.
12:45 Around 10.20 by air defense systems on duty destroyed two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territory of the Kursk region.
12:05 Drone operators in the Kupyansk direction burned another -113 armored personnel carrier. Peschanoye-Kislovka area.
11:47 Work of fighters from the GrV Sever. Another enemy howitzer was burned by the fiber-optic drone Prince Vandal Novgorodsky –MAP.
11:22 Crushing "Msta".
Crew of the 152mm howitzer "Msta-B" of the "Center" group of forces destroyed stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnoarmeysk direction.
10:00 Chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov visited command post of the "East" troop group in the special operation zone.
At the command post, Chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, heard a report from Lieutenant General Andrei Ivanaev, Commander of the East Group of Forces, on the current situation in the area of responsibility and the progress of combat missions.
Summing up the hearing, Chief of the General Staff noted the successes of the Vostok group in liberating the settlements of Velikaya Novosyolka and Vremevka and set tasks for further actions.
09:41 RF Armed Forces are moving forward on the border of the Khar'kov and Luhansk regions.
08:57 Direct fire operation.
Tankers of the "Vostok" group are applied powerful fire strikes against the enemy, supporting our assault groups in the South Donetsk direction. The driver-mechanic with the call sign "Mityai" and the gunner-operator with the call sign "Romeo" spoke about the specifics of their work.
07:24 An example of the assembly of a heavy armored personnel carrier based on the T-72B3 tank by one of the Russian repair units.
Inside, instead of a turret, there is an armored capsule for a six-man landing force with a layer of bricks between two armor sheets covered with rubber on top. Additionally, the landing force is covered from above with an anti-drone visor with a layer of logs and rubber. The front of the TBTR will be equipped with a makeshift mine trawl -MAP.
07:16 During the past night, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 49 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
25 UAVs over the territory of the Rostov region;
Eight over the territory of the Volgograd region;
Six over the territory of the Kursk region;
Four over the territory of the Yaroslavl region;
Two each over the territories of the Belgorod, Voronezh regions and Krasnodar region.
05:01 Russian Ministry of Defense:
The ferocious 220mm BM-27 "Hurricane" does not give the enemy a chance to catch his breath. Crews of the MLRS "Hurricane" of the Guards Tank Army of the "West" group of forces are striking artillery batteries and armored vehicles, destroy command posts, strongholds, communication centers and ammunition depots in the special operation zone.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Victor Lavrinenko
The rest of the story. Possibly there aren’t any good guys at all here.
[REGNUM] In Sweden, 38-year-old Iraqi Salwan Momika was shot dead live on TikTok after he had been publicly burning the Koran for seven months straight. Despite all attempts, Momika could not be stopped or even deported. It all ended predictably.
Although, perhaps, if the Swedish state had sent Momika to prison after his first action, it would have saved his life.
ATTRACTED ATTENTION
A few years ago, Sweden was hit by an epidemic of public burnings of sacred books of various religions. These blasphemous actions were carried out by half-mad liberal activists who took advantage of loopholes in local legislation. One of the authors of this trend was an Iraqi named Salwan Momika, who moved to Sweden in 2021. Even at that time, he had an extremely turbulent biography behind him.
Born to an Assyrian-Aramaic Christian family in the city of Qaraqosh, Momika fled in 2012 after a local court found him guilty of causing death by negligence (in a car accident) and sentenced him to three years in prison.
During the Iraqi civil war, when local Christians were persecuted by Islamic extremists, Momika joined the Assyrian Patriotic Party. He worked as a security guard at the party's headquarters in Mosul.
After ISIS captured Mosul in 2014, Momika became involved with the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a coalition of Christian, Shiite, and Yazidi militias fighting ISIS. He appeared in videos dressed as a militiaman, pledging allegiance to the Shiite Imam Ali Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Movement of Iraq (an affiliate of the PMU).
Momika then positioned himself as one of the leaders of the Brigade of the Spirit of God Jesus, Son of Mary (another branch of the SNM). Having political ambitions, he became the founder of the Syrian Democratic Union party. He also stood at the origins of the armed organization "Hawks of the Syrian Forces", created in 2014, which maintained contacts with the Iraqi party "Babylon Movement", which claims to represent the interests of Christians, although the majority of its members and voters are Shiite Muslims.
In 2017, Momika, having received a Schengen visa, fled to Germany.
Wow. He actually went legally, getting legal permission first instead of arriving and demanding accomodation.
There he declared his atheism and apostasy from Christianity. In April 2018, the fugitive applied for a refugee visa to Sweden.
In April 2021, he was granted a three-year temporary residence permit but denied permanent residency. Immigration officials caught him in a lie: Momika lied about the nature of his collaboration with the Imam Ali Brigades, claiming that he was affiliated with a political organization rather than a military militia.
The refusal greatly annoyed Momika, since he considered a permanent Swedish residence permit as a "bridge" to citizenship. Moreover, the emigrant intended to run for the Riksdag (parliament) and established contacts with members of the Swedish Christian Democratic Party.
He was later investigated after threatening a man with whom he shared an apartment with a knife. Momika was convicted of the threats, given a suspended sentence and community service. Salwan wanted to somehow attract public attention to himself, believing that this would allow him to return to politics. And he chose extreme Islamophobia as his signature gimmick, which may seem strange given that he once got along well with Muslims from the Popular Mobilization Forces.
Momika began making and posting videos expressing extreme anger toward Islam, which he said was "fanatical oppressors" and was responsible for the destruction of his homeland, which he called "Mesopotamia."
SIX KORANS
The videos alone were not enough to attract attention. Momika was inspired to take further action by the example of far-right activist Rasmus Paludan, who burned the Koran on Swedish territory in April 2022 and January 2023. Deciding to follow this example, the “actionist” bought a copy of the Koran in 2023 and filed a police report for holding a “public action” near the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm.
But to his disappointment, the police initially refused. After Paludan's antics, the authorities did not want to risk provoking Sweden's large Islamic community. According to Momiki, he felt "very sad and hurt."
In a conversation with the press, the Iraqi stated that "the police decision supports Islamic terrorists in Sweden and Europe." At the same time, another person, a black Swedish citizen Chris Makundul, applied for the blasphemous action. And he was also refused.
Momika and Makundul went to court, where a ruling was made that fully satisfied the blasphemers: they were granted the permission they had requested. However, Makundul got scared and did not burn the Koran. But Momika was unable to stop in time and on June 28, in front of a large crowd of the press, he burned the holy book in the center of Stockholm.
The action predictably caused a storm of indignation among Muslims living in Sweden. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran expressed extreme indignation, accusing the Swedish authorities of condoning blasphemy. Morocco even recalled its ambassador from Sweden, and Iraq asked the Swedish ambassador to leave. In this country, the authorities of Momiki's hometown offered a reward of $2 million and a gold-plated Koran to anyone who killed him. The Iraqi government simply demanded his extradition.
Surprisingly, Momika became a geopolitical factor for a while.
Turkey blocked the Scandinavian country's entry into NATO for four months, and Istanbul cited the Swedish authorities' unwillingness to stop the blasphemer as one of the reasons for this. However, as it soon became clear, Istanbul's principled stand was inflated: Turkey agreed to Sweden's entry into the alliance, and Momika continued his antics.
The first Koran he burned was far from the only one. On July 20, 2023, under the protection of Swedish police, who protected him from angry believers, he burned another copy of the Muslim holy book - again under the walls of the Iraqi embassy. Less than two weeks later, on July 31, he did the same near the Swedish parliament building.
On September 3, 2023, Salvan Momika appeared with the Koran under his arm in one of the squares of the city of Malmö. And everything was repeated - the click of a lighter, the flames engulfing the pages of the book. On October 21, 2023, the "refugee" did this in Stockholm, on Benny Fredriksson Square.
Swedish officials grabbed their heads. Something had to be done urgently, since Momiki's antics were turning Sweden into almost the main enemy of the vast Muslim world. This could have brought the most dire consequences on the country: the Swedish police reported that the level of terrorist threat had increased sharply. However, in the eyes of Swedish law, the blasphemous immigrant had done nothing for which he could be sent to prison. Moreover, he was given police protection - as a person who received threats on a daily basis. The protection of the "fighter against Islam" cost the country 5 million kronor.
In October 2023, the Swedish government finally decided to deport Momika for all of his "exploits." He managed to file an appeal, which was rejected. But the question arose about where exactly to deport him. According to Swedish officials, he cannot be deported to his native Iraq, since there, they say, Momika "faces torture and inhuman treatment." Therefore, he was given a temporary residence permit for several months.
Meanwhile, he came up with a new way to "troll" the Muslim community - he announced that he supported Israel and publicly burned the Palestinian flag. On February 25, 2024, he burned the Koran again - for the sixth time. Then, in February 2024, the Swedish Migration Court once again confirmed that they would like to deport Momika and ban him from entering the country for five years.
NEXT IN LINE
After this, Momika hastily packed up for neighboring Norway. "Sweden only accepts terrorists, who are given shelter and protection here, while philosophers and thinkers are expelled from the country," the activist was indignant in a conversation with Expressen.
Rumors soon spread that he had been murdered in Norway. But in early April 2024, it became known that the desecrator was alive and well and would soon be deported back to Sweden. It turned out that when he filed his asylum application, he had stated that the Norwegian authorities would facilitate his death if he was returned to Sweden. However, the security authorities there came to the conclusion that the "philosopher and thinker" was a threat to Norway by his very presence.
Momike's temporary residence permit in Sweden expired in mid-April 2024. But this did not result in his deportation - he applied for a new residence permit, and the Swedish Migration Agency reconsidered whether he could be deported to his home country.
Under Swedish immigration law, this procedure could be repeated indefinitely until the agency decided that Iraq was safe enough to deploy a provocateur there.
However, in August last year, a case was brought against him for inciting racial hatred – the verdict was scheduled to be handed down yesterday, January 30, 2025. In connection with this, Momika said that he was surprised by the charges, but hoped for a full acquittal: “I know that Sweden and Swedish society protect freedom of speech and the freedom of people to criticize and question religion.”
It was clear from the start that the method he had chosen to make a public appearance was not very compatible with life. His murder was a matter of time, which happened on the night of January 29-30. At that time, he was in his rented apartment in a Stockholm suburb and was broadcasting a live video on TikTok, which was watched by more than two thousand people.
After 11:00 p.m., a report of a shooting was received from the area, and a police patrol and an ambulance team were sent to the scene. According to viewers watching the broadcast, Momika said he was going to go out on the balcony to smoke. Shortly after, four shots were heard. Prosecutor Rasmus Jöhman confirmed that the visitor was dead - he was found with several bullets in his head. The Swedish Security Police (Säpo) has joined the investigation.
A large-scale police operation began. Within hours, Swedish security forces had arrested five people, aged between twenty and sixty, who were believed to have been involved in Momiki's murder. Four of the suspects had no previous criminal record, while the fifth had been convicted of a minor drug offence in 2020. A firearm was seized from one of the suspects' vehicles.
The motives for their actions are clear - they were Muslims taking revenge on a man who had declared himself an implacable enemy of their religion. It is noteworthy that the speed and skill that Swedish law enforcement demonstrated in catching the killers of the desecrator of the Koran is not something they often demonstrate, judging by the number of unsolved violent crimes.
In general, the reaction of the Swedish authorities is noteworthy.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced that the country's security services were investigating possible links between Momiki's killers and foreign powers. Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch called the murder "a threat to our free democracy."
Momika's accomplice Salwan Najem, who appeared next to him in some of the videos at the time of the Koran burning, actually accused the Swedish authorities of complicity. According to him, Momika's murder was made possible because the authorities had previously decided to deprive him of police protection. Najem claims that immediately after his accomplice's death he received death threats from "1,200 Muslims" and considers himself "next in line."
#4
What, only nice people get to flip shit at neo-Mohammedan wannabe totalitarians?
Mohammed was rrready to rrrrrumble:
"You Persians and Romans will tumble!"
"Fear not, this shall pass
For we'll muster a mass
Of our well-mannered, placid and humble."
Very certain they would be upset by the lack of an ice machine in hell.
[KavkazUzel] Islam does not prescribe a preferential right to hajj for combatants and their relatives, but it can be explained by the concept of "exceptional interests," Islamic scholars emphasized. The process of distributing free hajj vouchers should be more open, Dagestan residents pointed out.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, priority in distributing 2,500 charitable vouchers for the Hajj in Dagestan will be given to participants in the military operation, their relatives and family members of the fallen soldiers, said the head of the republic, Sergei Melikov. According to him, they will be allocated more than a thousand vouchers. The charitable vouchers will be paid for by Senator Suleiman Kerimov. In 2024, Kerimov also paid for a thousand vouchers for the Hajj for residents of Dagestan, of which 200 places were intended for widows and mothers of soldiers killed in a special military operation in Ukraine.
Hajj, or pilgrimage to the Muslim holy sites in Mecca, is one of the five main pillars of Islam. Every Muslim who has reached adulthood and has the opportunity to do so is required to perform the hajj at least once in their life. The pilgrimage to Mecca usually takes place at the beginning of the 12th month of the Muslim lunar calendar and ends with the Feast of Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha. There is also the so-called "small hajj" - Umrah.
Doctor of Law, Professor of the Higher School of Economics Leonid Syukiyainen and orientalist Ruslan Suleimanov commented to the "Caucasian Knot" on the Dagestan authorities' message about the priority of military operation participants and their relatives in receiving free vouchers for the Hajj.
Leonid Syukiyainen noted that he had not encountered such novelties while studying Sharia. "There are no such decrees in Islam itself or in Sharia," he said.
At the same time, he noted that, in principle, such a privilege can be justified by the concept of "exceptional interests". "This concept is used to make certain decisions or, conversely, prohibitions in the interests of satisfying the needs of Muslims, if they are not reflected in the Koran or Sunnah. And here, in fact, we can say that the participants of the SVO and their family members in the situation in which they find themselves, when they are particularly suffering and worried, are especially in need of satisfying their spiritual needs in this way - with the help of the Hajj. Therefore, their needs are a priority and should be satisfied first and foremost," L. Syukiyainen emphasized.
Ruslan Suleimanov noted that this is "a rather narrow issue, which, as a rule, should be considered by the most authoritative Islamic scholars within each individual ummah."
"In official Russian Islam, the top officials take a pro-government position and encourage such actions. The same Russian Muslim preachers who left the country and oppose the participation of Russian Muslims in the SVO, accordingly, adhere to the directly opposite point of view. But both of them again refer to Islam, which is
open to interpretation on many issues," he pointed out.
State Duma deputy from Dagestan Khizri Abakarov clarified in his Telegram channel that charity vouchers will also be provided to low-income citizens who have never made the pilgrimage before.
RESIDENTS OF DAGESTAN ASSESS THE PRINCIPLE OF DISTRIBUTION OF FREE HAJJ TICKETS
Makhachkala resident Magomedrasul told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he agrees that the vouchers will be distributed first and foremost to the SVO participants and their family members. "They deserve it, especially the widows and children of the fallen servicemen, since they have lost the most precious thing they have - their husbands and fathers. I myself am planning to go on the Hajj, but I do not have the opportunity yet," says Magomedrasul.
"I am not against the vouchers being given to the participants of the military operation, their relatives and family members. But will there be 2,500such people? How will the remaining vouchers be distributed?" asks public sector employee Aminat.
"I agree that some of the vouchers should go to this category of citizens. This issue has most likely been resolved at the highest level. No one will dare to reproach that "the wrong people" are given free vouchers. At the same time, there are many residents of Dagestan, including the poor, whose families have been saving money for years to perform the Hajj. Why can't they be helped too? I myself performed the pilgrimage many years ago, we have been saving money for many years," Abdullah said.
"I have nothing against the participants of the SVO, but I think that they are given a lot of support, including financial support, priority employment, housing, land plots. There were cases earlier when free vouchers provided by Kerimov were received by those who had repeatedly gone to the Hajj, and not by low-income citizens. Therefore, some kind of balance is needed, to allocate free vouchers by decision of village meetings or in some other way, so that they are received by those who really need them," says Rasul.
The survey is not representative and reflects only the personal opinions of its participants.
Let us recall that the only accredited hajj company "Marva Tour" is engaged in organizing the hajj in Dagestan. The company's website lists the cost of hajj packages in 2025.
The Economy option Makhachkala – Dubai – Medina without meals costs 4,990 US dollars. Standard on the Makhachkala – Medina route costs 5,690 dollars, Comfort Makhachkala – Medina – 7,990 dollars. !
[DailyWire] The final vote was 79-18, with many Democrat members joining with their Republican colleagues in supporting Governor Doug Burgum’s (North Dakota) nomination to the Cabinet role in Trump’s second term. Another three senators did not vote.
Burgum ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2024 race, but dropped out and endorsed Trump. He was reportedly a finalist to become Trump’s running mate before now-Vice President JD Vance got the nod.
Burgum advanced out of committee by an 18-2 vote. His final confirmation vote was very bipartisan, but it fell short of the unanimous show of support that Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... received.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and EPA head Lee Zeldin have also been confirmed.
Other nominees are still working their way through the Senate. Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... have sought to impede the confirmation process, such as forcing procedural votes, an effort that has earned stern rebukes from the GOP.
Among the next Cabinet picks poised to get a confirmation vote is Christopher Wright, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Energy. Wright was also chosen to serve as a member of the National Energy Council.
#1
Seems like Burgam and Zeldin went too easy. I would like to see Keystone approved on the double. If all the Biden clowns are still on the payroll who were monument creating and homeowner harassers in a month, Trump has made a mistake.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/01/2025 10:07
Comments ||
Top||
I feel smug. A few days ago, when we had the story about the original arrest, I wrote, I vote for mental illness or a drug-induced psychotic break, very probably with compounding trans issues. Et voilá!
[NationalPulse] The attempted assassin of President Donald J. Trump’s new Treasury Secretary has been revealed to be a transgender after the suspect was arrested earlier this week in Washington, D.C. Ryan Michael English, also known as Riley Jane, is originally from Massachusetts and admitted to police that he wanted to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
English was found at the Capitol building in D.C. armed with knives and Molotov cocktails when he was arrested, along with a note on the back of a receipt that stated, "I can’t do nothing while nazis kill my sisters."
According to police, English turned himself in, claiming he intended to kill Bessent but had no concrete plan of how to go about it. He stated that he was inspired by Luigi Mangione, who is suspected of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the streets of New York City last year.
Upon searching English’s vehicle, more bomb materials were found along with strong vodka likely used for the Molotov cocktails.
English was also allegedly plotting to murder Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and wanted to set fire to the building housing the Heritage Foundation.
The case comes after a pair of transgenders shot and killed a Border Patrol agent in Vermont on January 20. Teresa "Milo" Youngblut and Felix "Ophelia" Baukholt are both believed to be connected to a larger transgender terrorist group led by a figure named "Ziz," real name Jack Lasota, based in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,. The group may be linked to several other violent mostly peaceful acts in the past.
#3
Riley Jane appears not to have the mental acuity to have accomplished much. Maybe the first step of his plan was to send a Life360 request to his potential victims.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/01/2025 10:30
Comments ||
Top||
[IsraelTimes] Israel has complained to the US-led committee overseeing the Lebanon ceasefire that Iran is sending suitcases stuffed with US dollars to Hezbollah via Beirut’s international airport, according to an American defense official cited by the Wall Street Journal.
The official is quoted as saying that Israel also claims Turkish citizens are being used to smuggle cash from Istanbul to Beirut.
According to the WSJ report, Israel’s complaints have been passed on to the Lebanese government.
A Lebanese security official quoted by WSJ says the Beirut airport is under tight military control to prevent Hezbollah smuggling attempts.
Though smuggling large amounts of cash through the airport would be difficult, valuable items like gemstones and diamonds could pass undetected, the Lebanese official says.
The November 27 ceasefire deal ended two months of full-scale war that followed months of lower-intensity cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah.
During the campaign, Israel eliminated most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership. It also targeted the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial institution, which has over 30 outlets across Lebanon, which both Jerusalem and Washington say is used by Hezbollah for money laundering and terrorism financing, assertions the group denies.
The Iran-backed terror group began near-daily attacks on northern Israel one day after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Israeli residents of the north were displaced by the attacks, with rocket fire eventually spreading to the center of the country.
The Times of Israel is liveblogging the day’s events here. Let us hope Hamas is not arrogant enough to repeat the threatening mob scene they performed when they released fhe female soldiers on Thursday.
[IsraelTimes] Israel has expressed ‘grave concern’ for the fate of Bibas’s wife and small sons, who are still held in Gaza after all living children and women are supposed to have been freed
Three Israeli hostages slated for release by Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... from Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... on Saturday were named Friday as Ofer Calderon, 54, Keith Siegel, 65, and Yarden Bibas, 35, officials said.
Israeli officials said that the families had been notified and that Israel accepted the Hamas list.
Siegel, a dual Israeli-US citizen originally from North Carolina, was taken captive with his wife Aviva from Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Aviva was freed during a previous ceasefire in November 2023.
Calderon was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 with two of his children, who were both freed in the previous ceasefire.
Bibas, his wife Shiri, and children Ariel and Kfir were all kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Kfir was 10-months-old and Ariel was 4 at the time. Yarden was maimed during his kidnapping, and was seen being kidnapped to Gaza separately from his wife and children.
Hamas has claimed that Shiri and the two boys were killed in captivity. Israel has not confirmed this claim, but has expressed "grave concern" for their fate. Earlier this week, Israel reportedly demanded that Hamas clarify the condition of Shiri and the two small boys, who are all on the list of 33 hostages being freed in the first, 42-day phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal.
Fears for the fate of the Bibas trio have grown, as Hamas did not return them among the first hostages released. Living women and kiddies were supposed to be freed first under the deal, followed by injured and infirm men and men over 50.
Hamas has said that 15 of the 23 hostages yet to be returned under the current phase are alive, without offering specifics on the condition of individuals, and that eight are dead. Israel has said that this matches its own information.
So far, 10 Israeli hostages have been freed as part of the current deal, which mandates the release of 33 so-called "humanitarian hostages" during its first 42-day phase, with fighting stopped in the Strip. Five Thai hostages have also been freed.
As those hostages are gradually released, Israel is to release some 1,904 Paleostinian security prisoners, including more than 100 serving life sentences for deadly terror attacks. Ninety security prisoners are to be freed Saturday, nine of them believed to be holy warriors serving life terms.
The three-phase deal’s later stages are subject to negotiations with the stated goal of reaching a "sustainable calm" in the enclave, alongside the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, the release of more Paleostinian security prisoners and an Israeli withdrawal from the Strip.
The hostages are among 251 Israelis and foreigners kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when some 3,000 Hamas-led holy warriors burst into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, amid rampant acts of brutality and overt targeting of civilians.
KEITH SEIGEL
Siegel, 65, a US citizen originally from North Carolina, was taken captive with his wife, Aviva Siegel, 62, from their home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, when holy warriors attacked their community, killing and abducting Israelis and burning kibbutz homes.
The couple was driven into Gaza in their own car, along with a neighbor and her two children.
Aviva Siegel was released in November 2023 as part of the temporary ceasefire deal, which was brokered by Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... and the United States.
Within a week, Aviva Siegel was at a massive rally at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, holding up a placard with Keith’s picture.
Their daughter Shir Siegel who also lives on Kfar Aza, was away that weekend, and tried that morning to call her father, who didn’t answer his phone. Her call to her mother’s phone was cut off, and they wrote on the family WhatsApp group that they couldn’t speak.
Keith Siegel is known as a quiet, kind man, dedicated to his wife, children and grandchildren. In April 2024, Hamas released a propaganda video showing Seigel alive alongside fellow hostage Omri Miran, 46. In the edited three-minute-long video, Siegel and Miran identified themselves, spoke directly to their families, and said they are hoping for a hostage deal that would see them and other hostages returned home.
OFER CALDERON
Calderon, 54, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 with two of his four children, Erez and Sahar, when Hamas title='terrorists '>holy warriors stormed the kibbutz, killing over 100 residents and some 15 foreign agricultural workers, and taking about 80 hostages.
Calderon and his children initially beat feet from their shelter through the window during the Hamas onslaught, into the fields of Kibbutz Nir Oz, where they were later taken hostage.
Sahar Calderon, 16, and Erez Calderon, 12, were released during the November 2023 ceasefire-hostage deal.
Hadas Calderon, Ofer’s ex-wife, was in the sealed room of her home on the kibbutz, holding the door handle against the terrorists. Their elder son, Rotem, 19, also survived in the safe room of his apartment, in the kibbutz area for young adults. His older sister Gaya, 21, was in Tel Aviv. Grandmother Carmela Dan was at her house down the street with Hadas Calderon’s niece, Noya Dan. Their bodies were found on October 19, 2023.
Ofer, who holds dual Israeli-French citizenship, marked his 53rd and 54th birthdays in captivity in Gaza.
YARDEN BIBAS
Bibas, 35, was kidnapped separately from his wife and children, who were all taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
On the morning of October 7, Bibas continuously texted with his sister, Ofri, letting her know what was happening in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he lived with Shiri, 32 and their two boys, Ariel, 4 and Kfir, then 9 months.
"At 6:30 a.m., he wrote about the rockets," Ofri said in a Kan interview. Yarden wrote about the holy warriors entering the kibbutz, and then he wrote, "’Fuck,’" said Ofri.
He texted his sister that there was terrible fighting, and intense pressure to try and hold off the wave of Hamas holy warriors who entered Nir Oz. The holy warriors ended up committing a brutal massacre, in which some 180 of the kibbutz’s 400 residents were killed or kidnapped.
He told his sister that his little boys didn’t know how to keep quiet, and he told her it felt like the end.
Several hours later, the family saw a video circulating of Shiri, holding both boys in her arms, a look of terror on her face as she was surrounded by terrorists, her boys facing her chest, a blanket covering them. Yarden is not in the video. Neither are Shiri’s parents, Margit Silberman Shnaider and her husband Yosi Silberman, who also lived on Nir Oz and were presumed missing but whose bodies were eventually identified.
Later, the Bibas family found a video of Yarden, injured with blood around his head, surrounded by terrorists.
Ariel, now 5, and Kfir, who turned 2 earlier this month, are the only children left in Gaza, after the November 2023 deal that saw the release of more than 100 of the people seized in the attack. In November 2023, the IDF said that the Bibas family had been transferred by Hamas to another Paleostinian terror group, in Khan Younis. That same month, Hamas released a propaganda video indicating Yarden was alive.
In February 2024, the IDF released what it said was recently discovered footage showing Shiri Bibas and her two young children surrounded by button men in the Gaza Strip hours after they were kidnapped, and expressed serious fears over the captive family.
On Wednesday, Israel demanded that Hamas clarify the condition of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, Hebrew media reported. IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said last week that there are "grave concerns" for their fate.
Relatives stated Monday that they are still holding onto hope that the Bibas family will return from captivity in Gaza, although Shiri and the boys should have been among the first seven civilian hostages, released in the last 10 days.
"We said then, and we say now: We hold on to hope and continue waiting for their return. We await clarity regarding their condition," said the wider family in the statement.
Once Seigel, Calderon and Bibas are released on Saturday, 13 of the 33 first-phase hostages will have been returned to Israel, along with the five Thai hostages released by Hamas on Thursday separately from the deal between Israel and the terror group.
According to a list given by the Hamas terror group to Israel on Monday, eight of the 33 hostages that were slated to be released during the first phase of the ceasefire are dead, meaning that 12 of the remaining 20 first-phase hostages are alive. Officials said that the Hamas document matched Israel’s existing information.
Seventy-nine of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza this month.
Israel is set to free 90 Paleostinian security prisoners on Saturday in exchange for the three Israeli hostages, "nine of whom are serving life sentences and 81 of whom have long sentences," the Paleostinian Prisoners’ Club spokeswoman Amani Sarahneh told AFP on Friday.
[IsraelTimes] Meirav Berger, mother of released hostage Agam Berger, offers a heartfelt, spiritual message of thanks for the return of her daughter, in a public statement at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
“Thank you to the creator of the world, to the nation of Israel and the Jewish world, to those who stood with us and wrapped us in endless love and overturned every rock to bring our Agam home to us,” she says.
Her husband, Agam’s father, Shlomi Berger, thanks US President Donald Trump in English:
“Thank you, thank you for your care and for making us all do the right thing,” he says. “We will never forget your help, your generosity and your leadership, God bless the United States of America.”
Meirav also thanks the IDF soldiers, the country’s decision-makers, the family’s community in Holon, as well as their friends and family.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] On January 30, the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, arrived in Damascus. He became the first world (and, more importantly, the first Arab) leader to officially visit the “new Syria” and meet with the country’s renewed leadership. The visit was in many ways historic.
The 13-year "era of rift" between Qatar and Syria has come to an end. Now the Qatari authorities intend not only to make up for lost time, but also to bypass other Arabian monarchies that are aiming to take Damascus under soft control.
OFFICIAL COLLEAGUES
The day before the Qatari emir's visit, the "Victory Conference" was held in Damascus - an extended meeting of key figures in the anti-Assad coalition. The conference effectively put an end to the "Assad era": all previous institutions were dissolved, the constitution was annulled, and the process of restructuring the armed forces and special services was launched.
In addition, the delegates approved the candidacy of the leader of the "new Syria". As expected, Ahmed al-Sharaa (better known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani ), who previously led the banned terrorist group "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham", was elected.
Syria has officially defined the management team for the next five years, which has opened up the opportunity for external players to interact with the “new Damascus” on a completely official basis and to position al-Sharaa and his associates no longer as “temporary workers,” but as colleagues.
THE PATH TO PROSPERITY
Qatar is one of the countries that, with the start of the civil war in Syria, distanced itself from official Damascus and did not conduct any dealings with the Bashar al-Assad administration. Unlike most Arab countries, Doha closed the dialogue in all areas, including sensitive ones (for example, along the intelligence services line), while other Arab powers, despite a public boycott, left several emergency channels open.
After the fall of the republic and the rise to power of pro-Turkish politicians, Qatar's position as Turkey's closest military and political partner has predictably changed. At the end of December 2024, Doha gave the go-ahead to open an embassy in Damascus. And over the next month, several Qatari ministers and, finally, the emir himself visited the country. 13 years of silence have given way to a heated dialogue.
It is important to note that the “new Damascus” appreciated Doha’s support: Qatar was chosen as the first stop on the new Syrian government’s foreign tour. Only after a series of meetings in Doha did the Syrian delegation visit Saudi Arabia and the UAE, thus emphasizing its foreign policy priorities.
Syria's focus on developing dialogue with the Gulf countries is not accidental. To stabilize the economy and strengthen the country's international image, Damascus needs the support of influential, strong and financially secure regional players, which are the Arabian monarchies.
In addition, the new Syrian authorities hope to take advantage of the loyalty of the Gulf countries and ensure the country’s full return to the League of Arab States (LAS).
It is also noteworthy that the Syrian side decided to postpone the official visit to Turkey until February 2025, raising its level from ministerial to the highest. It is assumed that the country will be visited personally by the President of Syria for the transitional period, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
With this diplomatic move, Damascus hopes to emphasize its loyalty to Ankara without pushing it as a key partner in the Middle East. The “New Damascus” still strives to associate itself with the Arab world and skillfully exploits the idea of “Arab unity” in its dialogue with the Arabian monarchies.
BIG PROMISES
The frequency of diplomatic relations between Doha and Damascus since the fall of the republic has broken all records - no other Arab country has conducted such intensive interaction with the new Syrian authorities.
Qatar also leads in the number of areas in which the "new Damascus" has been promised assistance. In addition to the financial and energy sectors, Doha promises its Syrian partners assistance in the humanitarian sphere and help in reforming the education sector.
Qatar also promises to lobby Europe to lift some of the sanctions on Damascus, which seems possible given Qatar's strong influence on the EU energy market.
At the same time, the parties are deliberately avoiding discussing Qatar’s military presence on Syrian territory – the new Syrian leaders still do not agree on whose presence on their lands is acceptable.
Doha itself is not eager to address this issue - for the Qatari authorities, remote cooperation without a direct military presence seems more advantageous. Especially considering that there are enough forces in the country that would perceive the appearance of the Qatari army here as a personal challenge.
DOHA VS RIYADH
Doha’s current work on Syria is largely aimed at containing other players seeking to benefit from the unstable position of the new Syrian authorities. The greatest danger, from Qatar’s point of view, comes from Saudi Arabia, the country’s key competitor in the Middle East.
The Saudis, although they "bet" on Assad shortly before the fall of the republic, quickly regrouped and are now promising Damascus significant economic injections, as well as diplomatic support. The volume of promised investments is slightly less than what Doha promises.
However, Riyadh’s proposals in practice look much more modest, since they suggest gradual assistance and only in exchange for “diplomatic assistance.”
Such a cautious approach is due to the fact that Saudi Arabia is alarmed by the obvious predominance of Turkish creatures in the new government and is trying to carefully advance the appointment of its figures. Otherwise, the announced aid will be distributed by Riyadh in even more measured doses.
For Qatar, Damascus's pro-Turkish orientation is rather a plus, and the Saudis' attempts to interfere in Syria's internal affairs open up the opportunity to extinguish Riyadh's key trump card in advance - influence on the course of the League of Arab States.
The Qatari authorities are trying to convey to Damascus (so far unobtrusively) a simple idea: if the “new Syria” makes a choice in favor of Doha, it will ultimately still restore its position in the Arab League – but in exchange it will receive greater dividends than from cooperation with Riyadh. Similar views are being instilled by Turkish advisers, who are striving for a “political sparring match” between the two allied countries.
The Saudis have not yet been able to break this trend.
In many ways, the appearance of this article underscores Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin's adaptation of the "Zhirinovsky Doctrine", which states the US holds sway over the Americas in the western hemisphere without interference from Russia, while Russia holds away over south Asia, again without opposition from the US and NATO. by Artemy Sharapov
[REGNUM] In his “throne speech,” US President Donald Trump repeated his frequent promise to make the Panama Canal American again—to return the main artery of the Western Hemisphere to the ownership of the United States.
Trump said that the authorities of the Republic of Panama (under whose sovereign control the canal, previously owned by the United States, has been since 1999) are not fulfilling their management responsibilities. Therefore, the United States must return what is its own, the newly elected owner of the White House is sure.
It is significant that Trump is sending his newly appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his first foreign trip to Panama.
"The most important thing is that China controls the canal. We didn't give the canal to China, we gave it to Panama, and we're giving it back," Trump said.
Newly appointed Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, nicknamed "The Crusader," clarified on January 30 that the United States is prepared to use force to "ensure freedom" of navigation through the canal. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has issued more than one "decisive response" to threats from Washington. But it is ironic that Mulino did so on the X social network owned by Elon Musk, who recently astonished the world with an ambiguous gesture. If it was a "Roman salute," then it is quite consistent with the neo-imperial sentiments of the creators of the "new golden age of the United States": with plans to absorb Canada, Greenland, and take back the Panama Canal.
However, the question of ownership of this 80-kilometer sea route has been a “sore subject” for the American administration over the past 150 years, so Trump is not original in his attempts to resolve this issue by force.
By a curious coincidence, today, January 31, marks exactly 35 years since the last (at least, for now, the last) attempt to resolve the Panama issue by armed means.
But before we recall in detail Operation Right Cause (which is what the American intervention of 1989 was called, without a hint of irony), let us recall the stage on which this action unfolded.
THE CHANNEL AND THE SCANDAL
Plans to build a canal through the narrow Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean (so that ships would not have to travel thousands of miles around Cape Horn), were first developed during the years of Spanish colonial rule in South America - but at that time such a project was practically impossible to implement.
The benefits of building a waterway were obvious to everyone in Europe and the New World. As early as 1827, none other than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe predicted, “I shall be surprised if the United States does not take up such an undertaking.”
But the French were the first to take up the matter.
Colombia, which had owned the Isthmus of Panama since the 1830s, brought the Panama Canal Company, founded in Paris, into the project in the late 1870s. Construction dragged on for a decade. And as a result, the word panama entered the French language, and then all the languages of the world, meaning “a large and brazen scam.”
The company, having "given a bribe" to ministers and hundreds of deputies, received permission to collect money from citizens under a winning loan, and then... went bankrupt. It turned out that half of the 1.3 billion francs invested in the project "disappeared".
It was after this that the United States took over the initiative.
The prediction of the author of "Faust" came true in 1903, when Theodore Roosevelt (also known as Teddy and Rough Rider) was president. The United States, rapidly gaining economic and military power, was actively expanding throughout Latin America - from the Rio Grande to Cape Horn. They were quite capable of implementing a project that promised to shorten the route from New York to San Francisco from 23 thousand to 9.5 thousand km.
In 1903, a deal was made whereby the United States leased a strip of territory ten kilometers wide from Columbia for a period of 100 years.
However, the process of ratifying the deal in the Colombian parliament stalled. The country had just ended another civil war (its events formed the basis for Gabriel García Márquez's novella "Nobody Writes to the Colonel"). The winners and losers were unable to reach a compromise on the canal issue, so the US decided to move on to plan "B" - separating the department of Panama from the Republic of Colombia by force.
SEPARATION AND REVOLUTION
In the fall of 1903, unrest and demonstrations began in Panama demanding independence for the region. Attempts by the Colombian authorities to suppress the protests were stopped by direct intervention by the United States. Teddy Roosevelt called this the Big Stick Policy, that is, “resolving conflicts” with the help of American military power. Trump clearly likes this approach as well.
The Republic of Panama was proclaimed on November 3, and 10 days later the new state was recognized by the United States, after which the act of transferring the territory of the future canal to American control was ratified. After the completion of construction in 1914, the States established a de facto monopoly on its use.
The state of Panama was essentially an American protectorate. In particular, local authorities were prohibited from having their own armed forces for fear that the strategic maritime trade route would be captured. Over time, the United States decided to create the Panama National Guard, whose tasks included fighting communist rebels. This decision played a cruel joke on Washington.
In 1969, a group of National Guard soldiers, who had by then become a real force, overthrew the country's government. Colonel Omar Efraim Torrijos came to power, promoted himself to brigadier general and proclaimed himself the leader of the revolution.
The junta led by Torrijos began to put pressure on the United States, demanding that it transfer control of the canal to the Panamanian Republic.
In 1977, Líder Máximo de la Revolución - Supreme Leader of the Revolution Torrijos and US President Jimmy Carter signed an agreement on the neutrality of the canal territory and its subsequent transfer to Panama's control. However, on July 31, 1981, the Supreme Leader's plane crashed under unclear circumstances, and Torrijos himself died.
But the process of nationalization continued under his successor.
The new head of the republic was Colonel Manuel Antonio Noriega, one of the commanders of the National Guard of Panama. Coming from the lower classes, Noriega received the nickname "Pineapple Face" due to the consequences of smallpox he suffered. As an officer of the National Guard, he acted together with American intelligence services in the fight against Marxist movements. In this field, he earned the status of "Our Son of a Bitch" and could lead Panama without fear.
Some may ask why the United States even entered into negotiations with some juntas and ceded the Panama Canal, which was so important to them.
However, there is nothing surprising about this. By the early 1980s, the United States seemed to be losing ground around the world, losing its status as a superpower. The defeat in Vietnam in 1975, the anti-American revolution in Iran with the seizure of the American embassy hit the country's image very hard.
The situation is somewhat similar to the situation in the United States today: an incompetent democratic government, failures in key areas of domestic and foreign policy, and a despondent mood in the White House. It seemed that the United States was close to defeat in the Cold War.
AN EXEMPLARY FLOGGING IN THE NAME OF DEMOCRACY
In this environment, a new administration came to power, led by Republican Ronald Reagan.
The future president went to the elections with a set of slogans that were repeated in our time by another eccentric leader - Donald Trump. In fact, the slogan "Make America Great Again" was put forward specifically for Reagan's election campaign. The new president announced the beginning of a "Crusade" against communists.
In 1983, for the first time since Vietnam, the United States decided to undertake a large-scale intervention.
In late October, the United States launched a military operation in Grenada, overthrowing the country's leftist government, which was oriented toward the USSR and Cuba. "We could not allow the specter of Vietnam to hang over the country forever and prevent us from protecting our legitimate national security interests... We did not ask anyone's permission, but did what we thought was right," Reagan later wrote in his memoirs.
However, the Noriega regime in Panama seemed to be under no threat so far.
"Colonel Pineapple Face" remained in good standing in Washington and was considered an ally in the crusade against the "Reds." For a while, the United States even turned a blind eye to Panama's involvement in the Colombian drug trade, which by the mid-1980s had reached unprecedented proportions. However, Noriega committed a more "grave sin" in Washington's eyes.
He was caught collaborating with the left.
In 1988, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) accidentally discovered that Noriega's regime had colluded with the governments of Cuba and Nicaragua, which also had a stake in the Colombian drug trade. Once this became known in Washington, Panama's fate was effectively sealed.
In January 1989, Reagan was replaced as US President by another Republican, George H.W. Bush.
Bush, not distinguished by the odiousness of his predecessor, continued Reagan's policy, but used a fundamentally new strategy. In April 1989, the United States imposed tough economic sanctions against Panama. A month later, the country held presidential elections, which were won by the opposition candidate. Noriega did not recognize the election results.
After that, the CIA organized an attempted coup in the country, which, however, was suppressed. Thus, the US tried out a model for changing undesirable regimes: economic pressure, attempts at an internal coup, and if that didn’t work, a direct military invasion.
After the CIA's involvement in the coup was revealed, Noriega demanded that the US withdraw its troops from Panama. The next day, a provocative incident occurred: Panamanian National Guard soldiers killed an American soldier and raped his wife. The US government sanctioned the military operation "Operation Just Cause", which was to become a "show flogging".
It was during the preparation of military actions in Panama that the United States first conducted an information campaign, justifying its actions by the need to “protect human rights” and “restore democracy.” This model was subsequently used to justify aggression against Iraq, Yugoslavia, Somalia, and a number of other countries.
HARD ROCK FOR A DICTATOR
A contingent of 26,000 people was formed to carry out the operation — mainly special forces fighters, supported by 100 armored vehicles and more than 200 military aircraft and helicopters. At the same time, there were only 11,000 people in the ranks of the Panamanian self-defense forces. The national guard had virtually no air defense, aviation, or armored vehicles at its disposal.
On the night of December 19-20, 1989, the United States launched a massive air strike on Panama. The targets of the attacks were the bases of the self-defense forces, most of the military did not even have time to take up organized defense. After that, 84 transport aircraft dropped a large landing force of the 75th Special Forces Regiment in Panama, which captured military and civilian airfields. After that, planes landed with personnel and armored vehicles of the 82nd Airborne Division.
Security forces loyal to the Noriega regime attempted to organize pockets of resistance, taking up defensive positions in government buildings and hastily constructed firing positions. However, the forces were initially unequal. By the end of the first day of the operation, the American military had captured the headquarters of the National Defense Forces, after which any organized resistance ceased.
During the fighting, the American special forces lost 23 people killed and about 300 wounded. As a result of the aggression, 500 Panamanian citizens died, including 50 self-defense forces. Noriega tried to hide in the Vatican embassy, but the American military installed powerful speakers around the building playing heavy rock music. Three days later, the former dictator left the embassy and was arrested. Noriega subsequently died in a Panamanian prison, having served time in the United States and France.
The out-of-control "son of a bitch" was punished - and this decision by Ronald Reagan, from the point of view of the current US administration, was correct. But - alas - Reagan did not reverse the decision, which Trump did not hesitate to call "stupid". The Torrijos-Carter Treaty remained in force, from 1979 to 1999 the Panama Canal Zone was under joint administration by the US and the Republic of Panama, with the prospect of being handed over to the Panamanians.
This is what happened in 2000, when the United States handed over control of the canal to the country's government, concluding an agreement on the neutrality of the waterway.
DREAMS OF REVENGE
Trump also addressed the issue of “returning Panama” during his first presidential term – even then he was concerned about the contacts of the small but strategically important Central American state with China, with which Trump was waging trade wars.
However, it is precisely now that the new president’s threats should be taken seriously. As in the late 1980s, the United States is experiencing an internal crisis associated with a loss of direction and failures in foreign policy. In this regard, the populism of Trump, who managed to win the election under the slogans of returning to “former greatness,” is becoming dangerous for its neighbors.
During Trump's last term, the slogan "Make America Great Again" was discredited because it was not backed up by real action.
So the US may well go for a small, demonstrative military operation to prove to other countries and to itself: we are still strong and ready to achieve our goals.
#2
If the U.S. do go in, I hope the first strategy of the take over would be to quietly land Paratroopers and Special Forces to secure every bridge crossing the canal, from being blown and blocking the canal!
#3
/\ Yes! Rename it the 'American' Canal. Flood the Zone with troops on both ends. Retake Howard AFB and kick out/retire the worthless Zonians. Night airborne operations from day one.
Bring in armed General Dynamics, Raytheon, and/or Lockheed civilian contractors to run lock operations. Day three and four, open the golf courses at Fort Amador and host a BBQ.
Appoint a military commander, send the current operators home on a slow boat to China and be done with it.
Any resistance or sabotage should be met with stronger actions to include summary executions as needed.
We have a Georgia peanut farmer to blame for all of this.
Linked article is available only through a VPN.
[EngMilRu] From 25 to 31 January 2025, the Russian Armed Forces have carried out seven group strikes by high-precision weapons and strike drones, which have engaged critical energy facilities that support the work of the Ukrainian defence industry.
In addition, the infrastructure of military airfields, assembly, storage, and launching sites of strike drones and uncrewed surface vehicles as well as temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian armed groups, were hit.
Over the past week, units of the Sever Group of Forces continued to eliminate AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region. The Russian Armed Forces liberated Nikolayevo-Daryino.
Aviation and drone strikes and artillery fire hit manpower and hardware of a tank brigade, a heavy mechanised brigade, four mechanised brigades, two air assault brigades of the AFU, a naval infantry brigade, and three territorial defence brigades.
In Kharkov direction, units of a motorised infantry brigade, an air assault brigade of the AFU, and a territorial defence brigade suffered losses.
During the week in the area of responsibility of the Sever Group of Forces, the enemy suffered losses of up to 2,200 troops, nine tanks, 57 armoured fighting vehicles, including a U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.
Moreover, Russian troops destroyed 144 motor vehicles, 22 field artillery guns, 13 electronic warfare stations, and nine field ammunition depots.
The Zapad Group of Forces has liberated Dvurechnaya (Kharkov region).
? Strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of three mechanised brigades, an air assault brigade, a mountain assault brigade, and an assault brigade of the AFU, a territorial defence brigade, and a national guard brigade.
The enemy suffered losses of more than 2,425 troops, two tanks, and 22 armoured fighting vehicles, including nine U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carriers.
Russian units eliminated 53 motor vehicles, 39 field artillery guns, 16 of them manufactured by NATO countries, six electronic warfare stations, and 11 ammunition depots.
The Yug Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Strikes were delivered at units of three mechanised brigades, an assault brigade, and an airmobile brigade of the AFU, two territorial defence brigades, and a national guard brigade.
The AFU losses in this direction during the week amounted to up to 1,445 troops, 13 armoured fighting vehicles, including three M113 armoured personnel carriers, and four U.S.-made HMMWV armoured fighting vehicles, 20 motor vehicles, 11 field artillery guns, including three Western-made artillery guns.
Eleven field ammunition depots and three electronic warfare stations were eliminated.
The Tsentr Group of Forces continued advancing into the depths of the enemy's defence and liberated Zelenoye, Novoyelizavetovka, and Novovasilyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).
Russian units hit five mechanised brigades, an airmobile brigade, a motorised infantry brigade of the AFU, two territorial defence brigades, two national guard brigades, and the Lyut Assault Brigade of the National Police of Ukraine.
The AFU losses amounted to more than 4,000 troops, five tanks, 32 armoured fighting vehicles, including a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, and three U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carriers.
Moreover, 48 motor vehicles, and 25 field artillery guns were destroyed.
The Vostok Group of Forces liberated Velikaya Novoselka (Donetsk People's Republic) as a result of active operations.
Russian units engaged three mechanised brigades, an air assault brigade of the AFU, a naval infantry brigade, two territorial defence brigades, and a national guard brigade.
The enemy lost more than 1,015 troops, four tanks, two armoured fighting vehicles, 16 motor vehicles, and 31 field artillery guns, five of them made up of NATO countries.
The Dnepr Group of Forces engaged manpower and hardware of a mechanised brigade, three coastal defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and a territorial defence brigade.
The AFU lost over 315 troops and 24 motor vehicles were neutralised.
Over the past week, air defence systems have shot down two French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, 31 U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles, 592 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, 290 of them outside the special military operation zone.
Over the past week, 43 Ukrainian servicemen have surrendered on the line of contact.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 652 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 41,987 unmanned aerial vehicles, 590 anti-aircraft missile systems, 20,975 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,511 MLRS combat vehicles, 21,087 field artillery guns and mortars, and 31,060 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.
During the offensive, the Sever Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on units of a tank brigade, a heavy-mechanised brigade, four mechanised brigades, two air assault brigades, a naval infantry brigade, and three territorial defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Gogolevka, Goncharovka, Guyevo, Zamostye, Kazachya Loknya, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Malaya Loknya, Makhnovka, Mirny, Nikolayevka, Nikolsky, Novaya Sorochina, Rubanshchina, Sverdlikovo, and Yuzhny. One AFU counter-attack was repelled.
Operational-Tactical and Army Aviation, and Artillery strikes engaged AFU manpower and hardware close to Viktorovka, Kositsa, Kruglenkoye, Loknya, Makhovka, Melovoy, Oleshnya, Sudzha, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye as well as Basovka, Belovody, Veselovka, Zhuravka, and Yunakovka in Sumy region.
Within the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to more than 270 troops, two tanks, seven armoured fighting vehicles, 28 motor vehicles, two mortars, an MLRS launcher, an electronic warfare station, an air defence radar, a counter-battery radar, a counterobstacle vehicle as well as four UAV control posts and two ammunition depots.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses amounted to more than 56,410 troops, 327 tanks, 241 infantry fighting vehicles, 185 armoured personnel carriers, 1,660 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,735 motor vehicles, 396 artillery guns, 45 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 16 anti-aircraft missile launchers, eight transport-loading vehicles, 106 EW stations, 14 counter-battery warfare radars, five air defence radars, 33 units of engineering and other materiel, including 15 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, nine armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:00 The number of victims as a result of Russia’s missile strike on the center of Odessa has increased to two people.
Mayor Gennady Trukhanov noted that there is a lot of damage and destruction in the UNESCO protected area, and a building that is under enhanced protection has been damaged.
21.21 Russian troops have launched a preliminary ballistic strike on civilian buildings in Odessa. This was announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky during a video address.
"Right now in the south of our country - in Odessa - work continues after Russian missile strikes. Preliminary - ballistics. Strikes simply on the city, on ordinary civilian buildings," the head of state said.
The President emphasized that "air defense is the first priority, we are working with all partners to provide more protection to our state."
The Chairman of the Odessa Regional Military Administration, Oleg Kiper, reported that a hotel employee was injured as a result of the enemy attack.
20.55 Explosions were heard in Odessa on the evening of January 31. A well-known hotel in the city center was damaged.
"Russian terrorists attacked the historical center of Odessa with missiles," said the head of the regional military administration, Oleg Kiper.
20.49 The Unmanned Systems Forces Command confirmed the use of a long-range drone capable of carrying a 250-kilogram aerial bomb and covering up to 2,000 km with the ability to return. This was reported by the press service of the Unmanned Systems Forces on Friday, January 31.
18.15 In the Kharkiv region, Russian invaders have again taken control of the settlement of Novomlynsk. This was reported by the information OSINT project DeepState.
In early December 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces cleared one of the Russian bridgeheads that had formed in the village of Novomlynsk. However, according to the latest information, the Russians have once again returned the settlement under their control.
The village was occupied several weeks ago. Now the Russians are increasing the number of infantry in Novomlynsk, deploying weapons and fortifying the territory.
17.45 Russian leader Vladimir Putin has effectively stopped talking about military action in the Kursk region. This is happening against the backdrop of a slowdown in the advancement of Russian troops in the region, the Telegram channel Agency. News reports.
In January, the head of the Kremlin mentioned the Kursk region only once in his speeches. Putin did this in a congratulatory address to the employees of the prosecutor's office, in which he called on law enforcement officers "to pay special attention to solving the problems of citizens in the Donbas and the Kursk region."
Now the head of the Kremlin speaks more often about other topics instead of the Kursk region. In particular, in January he already mentioned the new US President Donald Trump twice.
17:00 Since the beginning of the current day, 77 combat clashes have occurred on the front. Ukrainian defenders are repelling Russian attacks in 12 directions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in an operational report as of 16:00.
16.30 In Slavyansk, the base of the rapid response units of the Ukrainian Red Cross was shelled for the third time. This was reported by the press service of the organization on Friday, January 31.
16:29 Counterintelligence of the Security Service detained an FSB agent in Cherkassy who was preparing coordinates for Russian missile and drone attacks on the region.
SBU officers exposed the agent at the initial stage of his subversive activities. After documenting the crimes of the suspect, he was detained "red-handed" when he was conducting additional reconnaissance near a military facility.
15.25 Information that Russia is allegedly preparing for serial production of a modernized version of the Iskander-M system with an increased range is not true, the Center for Countering Disinformation reports.
13.49 The SBU detained a 44-year-old FSB agent who transmitted coordinates of the positions of the Defense Forces on the right bank of the Kherson region to the occupiers. The traitor faces life imprisonment. This was reported by the SBU press service on Friday, January 31.
12.49 The NBU considers the imminent end of active military actions in Ukraine unlikely and estimated at less than 15%. At the same time, there are high risks of escalation of military actions, further destruction of production capacities. This is stated in the NBU Inflation Report.
12.45 The UK will provide Ukraine with up to 2 billion pounds sterling for the purchase of air defense systems and air defense missiles. This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during a government meeting.
12.29 Over the past 24 hours, Russian troops have carried out 3,784 strikes on the front line and civilian sector of Donetsk Oblast. As a result of the attacks, one civilian was killed and 18 more people were injured, including two children. This was reported by the press service of the National Police on Friday, January 31.
11.59 The Czech Republic is considering the possibility of creating a new initiative for Ukraine to purchase ammunition and is calling on other EU members to join, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said.
10.55 On Friday night, Russian aggressors attacked the city of Chornomorsk with attack drones, four people were injured . Due to the enemy strike, there are problems with the power supply for part of Chornomorsk and the suburbs. Power engineers are already working to restore light to homes.
10.35 Russian troops struck border communities in Sumy Oblast three times, wounding three people . This was reported on January 31 by the OVA.
9.47 On the night of January 31 (from 21.00 on January 30), the Russians attacked Ukraine with 102 Shahed-type attack UAVs and drone imitators of various types from different directions. This was reported by the Air Force. As of 09.00, the downing of 59 Shahed-type attack UAVs and drones of other types has been confirmed in the Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Odessa regions. 37 enemy drone imitators were lost (without negative consequences).
9.22 A total of 150 combat clashes have occurred on the front over the past 24 hours. The Russians are intensively advancing in the Liman, Toretsk and Pokrovsky directions. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
8.59 North Korean troops have been withdrawn from the front line in the Kursk region. North Korean forces have suffered heavy losses in the fighting. This is reported by The New York Times.
8.36 Western media note that Ukrainian naval drones continue to cause significant damage to Russia. In particular, on December 31, a Ukrainian naval drone destroyed a Russian Mi-8 helicopter for the first time, using missiles fired from the drone. Two days later, the same Magura V5 destroyed another helicopter and damaged a third.
7.46 Drones attacked several regions of Russia again on the night of January 31. In the Volgograd region, as a result of the attack, a fire broke out at an oil depot. This was reported by Russian Telegram channels.
7.28 Over the past 24 hours, the Defense Forces have neutralized 1,670 Russian soldiers. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
04.05 Russian occupiers captured Novoandriivka in Donetsk Oblast and advanced into Nelipovka, Kotlino and near Shevchenko. At the same time, Ukrainian defenders were able to restore positions near the settlement of Udachnoye.
03:00 Russia has likely stopped oil transit through the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, confirming Ukraine's claims of a successful drone strike on a pumping station, Bloomberg reports, citing sources. The port handled about 20% of Russia's total sea flows.
00.21 On Thursday evening, Russian troops attacked a private home in the Krasnopolskaya community of the Sumy region, the Sumy OVA reported. At least two people were injured to varying degrees of severity, and their home burned down.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan...
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
...Arabic term meaning 
...
...
[Epoch Times] Federal government employees are embracing resignation offers made by the Trump administration, a senior White House official said on Jan. 31.
[Brownstone] Some years back, in calmer times before the storm, we officers at sea held the wardroom mess in accordance with that classic naval tradition. It was modernized and conducted over secure video, so those of us in the Med studied with those in the Gulf and those in the BAM,1 but it was all the same. Our study was Thucydides. 
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...every time you hear the phrase 
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
